A Song of Fire Lightning and Ice
by Cat face
Summary: there is a new evil in the digiworld and the digiteam from series two teams up with a new team of digidestined to over come it (undergoing complete revision, chapters 1, 2 and 3 now revised)
1. Introduction

A Song of Fire, Lightning and Ice

Disclaimer: I do not own digimon. Iris, Clive, Melodye, Byron, Wraithmon, Polarmon and all the other characters I made up are mine. Copyrighted to me. Don't steal them  

 N.B: The prologue is for the whole thing.

Prologue:

The battle between light and dark has raged on for centuries. Before the earth was made, before the digiworld was made, before time had begun, the light and the dark fought a war. Nobody knows what started it, and nobody knows if it will ever end. Even now it still rages above our heads and below our feet. 

It is fabled that some time ago, before we were made, the light and the darkness took on forms. The light took on the form of a beautiful angel, and the dark took on the form of a horrid demon. This was when time started. 

We're not quite sure how it started, or how it will end. We know, however, that this was when the earth was made. The earth was a battleground for the light and the dark. They constructed it, in their chosen forms, to suit themselves. For years, still, they fought their never-ending battle upon the battleground known as earth. 

After many eons of fighting, the darkness seemed to be gaining the upper hand. The light, which had nothing left to do to defend itself; split the earth into five parts. Five different realms: the realm of fire and the realm of ice, the realm of Air, or the spirit world, the realm of Lightning, or the digiworld and the realm of earth, or the human world. Among these the light hid and regained its power. 

Because the light was easily able to move through the different realms, the darkness had no way of keeping up with it. So, in order to keep track of where it was going it made its own realm linked to all the others. The realm of darkness. 

So the light, in order to avoid the darkness, made another realm completely apart from the rest. The realm of light. And so the battle raged, for eons more. While it did though, life had begun to grow in each of the five realms. The inhabitants watched on in fear as the two battled. 

I don't know what happened, but it seems that over the years the battle just became a mere turning of the day into night. The battle between the light and darkness is just another faerie story. But somewhere deep beneath the surface the battle still rages on. And one day it will show, either the light or the darkness will win, and that will be the end of time.

**

Dear Diary:

It's been so long since we last fought in the digiworld, almost four years now. I wonder what's happening there. You can't leave the digiworld for a few years without it getting itself into trouble. It seems that everything bad always happens there. Maybe not, considering how long it's managed to hold out. 

A lot of things have changed since then. Actually, come to think of it, not that much has changed. We're all in high school now. Yolie and Ken are in their last year, TK, Davis and I are in out second year and poor little Cody has only just started. Apart from that it's all pretty much exactly the same.

Davis still wears those stupid goggles my brother gave him. And he still plays soccer, along with Ken. He's matured a bit, not as much as we'd hoped, he accepts that there's someone better than him, he took it pretty well. He still thinks he's the best though, oh well him and Ken. 

TK plays basketball still, he's really good, and his team always wins. He's also become really good at writing. He wrote a poem and it was put in this young writer's competition and won. It was about how he felt when Angemon sacrificed himself to defeat Devimon. It was really good.

Yolie's got into the habit of playing with any sort of electrical appliance that is in her sight. She tampers with them and it doesn't always turn out good. She almost got electrocuted once, I don't know how, she didn't give me all the details. She also has practically inherited her parents' shop. Her other siblings hardly ever do any work there.  

Cody still does Kendo with his grandpa. He's grown a lot as well, puberty did him good. He's still deathly quiet and reserved though. If he didn't go to the same school as us we probably wouldn't see him often at all. 

Same goes for Ken. He doesn't go to the same school as the rest of us, I still see him sometimes, mostly as soccer games. He and Yolie are getting close, or at least I think they are. I don't think he's forgotten what he did. Every time I do see him he looks really guilty, as if he's stolen a cookie and wants to admit it but wont.

Me, I'm doing photography at school. It's really fun, I love taking pictures of things. I took some really good photos of my brothers wedding day. Sora looked so pretty, but in every picture Taichi was doing something stupid. As usual. 

That reminds me, the others have changed quite a bit as well, sort of. Joe is a real doctor now, I haven't gone to his clinic yet, but that's probably because I haven't been sick. But if I do go there at least I know I can trust him. I remember I saw his hand writing once, it's so messy. I wonder, my friend told me that they teach people at med. school to write like that. Well if they did Joe definitely got a good mark.

Matt's still trying to be a rock star, and he's doing a pretty good job too. He's number one in the charts now. The song is called 'Don't be afraid'. All my friends are totally in love with him. They're always asking me to get his autograph. 

Mimi still lives in America. She told us that she was going to move back last year, but then she got a modeling contract so she stayed. She's so lucky, I mean of course she'd be a model she's so pretty. I still hope she moves back, we all miss her lots. 

Izzy's only just got out of school, last year. He hasn't changed at all. Every time we see him he's got his computer with him. He's always coming up with these crazy theories, even now. He got offered a scholarship to go over to America to study at one of their collages, but he turned it down! He said that the people in America are useless and going to collage over here would be better. He's a strange one. I just think he'd get home sick, that's the reason he didn't go.

I have a feeling something's going to happen soon. I'm not sure what, but something. I hope the digiworld isn't in trouble; I couldn't stand seeing digimon getting hurt, for any reason. What am I saying? Nothing bad is going to happen it's probably just my mom's meatloaf, as Taichi would say.    

In any case I hope this feeling isn't justified. I don't want another Myotismon popping up out of no where and hurting anymore digimon. 

Love Kari   

Chapter 1: Introduction

"Hey Kari! Wait up!" Davis yelled running up to Kari and TK.

"What is it Davis?" TK asked, looking quite annoyed.

"What are you talking about TB I just want to walk with my good friend Kari here."

"Whatever" TK mumbled continuing next to Kari.

"Sorry Davis, but TK and I are having a… private conversation right now."

"Wha…" Davis stopped and stared at the two in shock, " Uhh but Kari, I was going to…" Davis trailed off noticing Kari and TK had gone back to their previous conversation, ignoring him, "invite you to my soccer match…" he whispered to himself. He glanced at the two once more before slowly turning around and walking in the other direction.

**

"Hee, Hee, I just feel eviler and eviler every day." Witchmon smiled to herself. 

She sat in an extravagantly decorated throne, hunched over a small crystal ball that sat on the back of an unfortunate digimon. Her long messy gray hair hung loosely from under the pointy black hat that adorned her head. Her yellow eyes were locked on an image inside the glowing ball. Her bony hands hung over the crystal occasionally scraping a nail against it and creating a screeching noise, sending shivers up the spine of any digimon in the area.      

"Bakemon!" she yelled, not looking up from her ball.

"Yes mistress." A whispering voice echoed from no where. The ghastly wraith digimon materialized in front of Witchmon.

"I think it's about time we made our presence here noticed." She hissed in her croaky old voice.

"Yes mistress." The Bakemon whispered, disappearing as if it had never been there. 

Witchmon shifted her eyes from the ball to the ceiling as she let out a deafening cackle. Digimon all around the area hid in terror of the malicious laughter that rang through the halls of the grey stone castle.

**

Yolie bustled busily about her parents' shop; she really needed to hire some help. Her parents were going out more frequently these days, saying she was old enough and responsible enough to look after the shop by herself. At first she thought it was fun, but the amount of customers had slowly increased and she was getting overworked. Her sisters didn't have to do half as much work as her, but it was good for the money.

"Hey, hello I've been waiting here for ages, you gonna serve me?" a rude customer yelled at her, waving a piece of paper in her face.

"I'm so sorry sir." She sighed and served the man. She heard the bell of the door go again, and sighed. 

_'Not another customer, I know its good for business but at the way I'm going I'm gonna have heart attack by the time I'm 20' she thought to herself. She glanced up at the person that had just walked through the door and was pleasantly surprised to find Davis. This could be the chance of a lifetime._

"Hey Davis!" she shouted to him catching his attention, "You want to make some quick cash?" His eyes lit up at the thought.

"Sure, I'll do anything."

"Well then get you butt behind the counter and start serving some people."

"Alright!" he said, quickly making his way to the cash register.

~_10 minuets later ~_

"No, No Davis you're doing it all wrong!" Yolie yelled at Davis, fixing the cash register.

"I'm sorry Yolie." Davis mumbled.

"Davis you're causing me more stress than relief, I can handle it by myself!" 

"But…" he tried, looking into her eyes pleadingly

"I said I could handle it." She pushed him out from behind the counter.

"Fine!" He yelled stomping out of the store.

Yolie sighed watching Davis go.

_'Maybe I was a little hard on him…' _

"Hey lady, you gonna serve me or what?" someone yelled from across the store. Yolie instantly forgot about Davis and rushed behind the counter.

**

"Stupid Yolie, she doesn't know what she's talking about," Davis muttered to himself dawdling down the street, "I was helping her, that cash register was a mess, she just doesn't appreciate people like me." He kicked a pebble and watched it skit across the ground and come to a stop in front of someone sitting on the grass. He shifted his eyes to the person on the grass. There was Cody, sitting in the middle of the park, completely oblivious to everything.

"Hey Cody!" He shouted and ran over to him. 

"Huh?" Cody looked around himself as if he had just woken up, "Davis?"

            "Hey whatcha doing?"

"I was meditating, Grampa said the best place to meditated is in the park, because there's lots of trees." Cody stood up and stretched his back.

"Oh well hey what are you doing now?"

Cody looked at his watch. His eyes almost bulged out of his head. 

"Uh oh I gotta go, my mom's is going to be worried, and plus it's roast chicken night, I wouldn't miss that for the world." With that he ran off leaving Davis yet again alone.

"Well see ya…" He said to Cody's disappearing back.  

  ** 

Davis slowly walked through the front door of his house, ignoring his parent's questions of where he had been for the past four hours. He made his way directly to his room. 

"Where do you think you're going?" His sister, Jun, asked standing in front of his bedroom door, blocking his entrance.

"Get out of the way Jun." He said stiffly, avoiding eye contact.

            "You have to pay a toll." She stated, keeping her position.

"I said get out of my way." He pushed her roughly out of the way.

"Stupid little brat!" She yelled lunging at Davis. He quickly shut the door in her face and pushed his back against it, bracing the old door from another one of its frequent onslaughts. He flinched as he felt the thud of his sister's body against the door. It made a splintering noise as if were going to break at any second, but held. He heard Jun mutter some death threats before getting up and leaving him in peace.

            "Wow I swear the door was about to break that time." 

Davis barely took notice of Demiveemon as he picked his way across his bedroom floor, avoiding sharp objects and valuables that lay scattered around his room then flopping down on his bed. He groaned and pulled a pair of scissors out from under his stomach and threw them to the floor.

"Maybe you should clean your room and you wouldn't have that problem and it also wouldn't smell of old gym socks." Demiveemon stated hopping down from a shelf next to Davis.

"I'll take note of that." Davis replied nonchalantly.

"What's up with you Davis? You don't seem your usual self." Demiveemon asked in his cheery voice.

"Nothin'…" Davis mumbled.

"Oh come on I know you better than that Davis, tell me what's the matter. Is it something to do with Kari?"

"It's none of your business." He stated sharply. He turned over to face the roof and closed his eyes tightly.

"Maybe if you acted like your self instead of some dumb soccer player. I know you're deeper than that Davis, and I'm sure if you showed that side of you to Kari she'll be all over you like a cheap coat."

"It's not as simple as that."

"Then what are you all upset about?"

"I'm not upset, I've just had a hard day." 

"Fine you do whatever but don't come complaining to me on TK and Kari's wedding day." Demiveemon looked hopefully at Davis' closed eyes. He sighed when no response came from him and jumped off the bed onto the shelf he had previously occupied.

"You don't understand…" Davis whispered to himself

**

"Iris…" A small polar bear like digimon hobbled over one of the many sand dunes that made up the desert, "Iris, the sand is getting in my fur and it's really itchy." It complained and walked up next to a girl. She looked about sixteen years of age, her long blue hair was tied up into two pigtails on each side of her head and bright blue eyes adorned her face.  The polar bear tugged at her pants like a small child.

"Iris… did you hear me I said that the sun is really hot and I'm not designed to walk through the desert. If we were in the snow I'd be fine, but a polar bear in the desert just doesn't match."

"That's not what you said…" The girl replied, flicking her blue bangs behind her ears, "you said the sand was getting in your fur and that you're itchy."

"Well at least I know you're listening. So what are you going to do about it?" Iris ignored the small digimon; she kept her gaze locked on the horizon.

"Nothing" she simply stated. 

"But Iris… this just isn't right." Iris spun around, her eyes scanning the horizon for something. She stopped and shaded her eyes from the sun.

"C'mon lets go." She started off in the direction she had been facing.

"But Iris I'm tired and hot." The bear said trailing slowly after the girl. She through it a canteen, and kept walking.

"Hurry up Polarmon, there's a storm brewing and we need to find shelter."

"A what?" Polarmon asked shaking the canteen above its mouth.

"A sandstorm, they're very dangerous if you're stuck out in one so hurry up."

"Iris, this canteen is empty." Polarmon whined throwing the canteen to the ground.

"Don't throw it away, we need that." Iris scalded, Polarmon quickly picked it up and threw it to Iris, "Now for the last time hurry up, I'm not gonna save you again." She briskly walked off leaving Polarmon sitting looking dumbfounded.

"Wait up!" It yelled running to catch up with its master.

**

Davis glanced around his classroom for a suitable seat. He caught sight of Kari sitting by herself smiling at him. He smiled back and made his way over to her. He was intercepted by TK who moved in front of him as if he didn't exist, and took the seat next to Kari. They started talking, taking no notice of him whatsoever. Davis dejectedly sat down in the seat behind them, glaring daggers at TKs' back.

"Now class I want you to get your books out and turn to page thirty-six…" The teacher started but as soon as she started reading the books contents he lost interest. He stared at Kari's back, imagining himself sitting next to her, telling her dumb jokes. What he would give to see her smile at his knock, knock jokes again. 

            Over the years she had shown less interest in him and more, way more, interest in that invader TK. Maybe Veemon was right, maybe if he showed Kari his real self than she would pay more attention to him. It would be way too complicated to explain to her now though. She's so used to the dumb Davis if he all of a sudden became the deep, resourceful, Davis he could be it would probably turn her off even more. 

_'Oh well maybe if I impress her enough with my soccer skills, she'll choose me instead of that idiot TK' Davis thought to himself. He reached over and tapped Kari's shoulder._

"Hey Kari, are you gonna come watch me play tomorrow?" He asked hopefully.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." She smiled at him in that way she did, "But TKs got a very important basketball game on the same day, so I can only watch you for a while." Davis stared at her dumbfounded.

"But Kari surly I'm more important than TJ here," He pleaded.

"Sorry Davis but I've know TK for ages and we're like best friends, I can't miss his game."

"But…"

"Daisuke Motomiya, what are you doing?" The teacher asked.

"Uh I'm talking…" He replied dumbly.

"Disrupting other students, Detention." She said solidly, "I'll see you after school, you know when and where."

"Uh huh," Davis mumbled and stared at his books angrily. 

**

"Iris!" Polarmon yelled over the raging winds, "Iris! Where are you? I can't see anything!" Polarmon sat down on its hunches and covered its eyes with its paws.

"Polarmon!" Polarmon heard her master calling.

"Iris! Where are you?" She shouted. She caught sight of Iris stumbling through the sandy wind. "Iris!" She shouted running over to her.

"Polarmon! We have to keep going, we're never gonna make it if we just stay here. We should reach cover soon."

"Alright…" Polarmon and Iris slowly stumbled through the thick sandy wind, both shielding their eyes. 

"Iris!" Polarmon yelled over the howling wind, "I see rocks!"

"That's good, we should get to a cave soon." They continued to trudge through the sand until Iris tripped over a stone.

"Iris… are you okay?" Polarmon asked, "I think I see a cave ahead." Iris pulled herself off the ground and squinted through the sand.

"You're right, C'mon." They ran into the cave, shaking themselves to remove sand from hair and fur.

"I'm so glad to be out of that damn storm." Polarmon exclaimed scratching at her fur sending sand flying everywhere.

"I'll say! I've got sand everywhere." Iris shook her pants and sand tumbled out forming a small mound around her feet.

"Well what's say we go exploring?" Polarmon said looking down into the cave.

"It's a bit dark don't you think?" Iris replied staring into the black cave.

"Oh come on you're not scared are you?" Polarmon chided

"No!" Iris yelled storming off into the cave.

"Hey wait for me." Polarmon followed Iris cautiously. 

**

The Pumpkinmon village is, and has always been a peaceful village. The little Pumpkinmon children scampered around the streets while the older Pumpkinmon go about their daily chores. It had been like this for eons. That was until Witchmon was brought into the digiworld. 

This fated day started like any other. Manny, a Pumpkinmon child in the village was happily playing ball with his friends. One of his friends would kick the ball and it would go flying across the street, they would all give chase, under and around the legs of the other Pumpkinmon, till one of them found the ball and kicked it again. 

Their game was unfortunately halted by the scream of a female Pumpkinmon. All of a sudden the town was in an uproar. People ran and screamed for their lives. Manny heard one of the villager's scream.

"Meramon!" He was frozen with horror; thoughts of his little hut burning to the ground brought tears to his eyes. He was snapped out of his trance by the smell of smoke. He turned towards his house, thoughts of his parents and his little sister Pumpkinmon burning at the hands of a Meramon made him choke. 

He ran against the flow of fleeing Pumpkinmon, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. He got to the spot where his little hut had once stood; now just a pile of smouldering rubble.

"Mama!" He shouted running through the ashes. He climbed over a large piece of charred wood, oblivious to how hot it was and how it burned his knees and hands. He caught sight of some legs sticking out from under another piece of wood. He immediately recognized them to be his little sister Kayla's. 

He scurried over the rubble to get to them. He lifted the piece of wood off her and threw it aside. He sat down next to her and cradled her little pumpkin head in his lap. 

"What happened?" He asked her.

"Mama…" she choked out, coughing from the amount of soot and dirt in her mouth, "Where's mama?"

"I don't know Kayla," He said softly, stroking her pumpkin head, "What happened?"

"I, I was helping mama… with the chores…" She started, tears forming in her eyes, "And then there was this big bang, and the house next door caught on fire…" She trailed off closing her eyes and sighing.

"No Kayla, stay with me little sister, you gotta stay with me." He bobbed her head up and down and her eyes popped open once again.

"Then… Then all of a sudden our house was on fire and mama she said to get out as quickly as possible, so I-I ran but there was another blast and I was caught under a piece of wood…. Mama…where's mama?" 

Manny tried his best to hold back his tears. He knew his mother was dead and that soon his sister would be too, but he had to stay strong, for her.

"I-I don't know…" he stuttered, tears slowly falling down his cheeks. Kayla coughed some more, blood sliding down her cheek from the corner of her mouth.

"No, Kayla, you have to stay with me…" He pleaded stroking her head.

"Mama…" she trailed off. She closed her eyes and inhaled her last breath. 

Manny knew this was the end for her, her body went limp as she exhaled. 

Manny stared at her body for a long time, hoping that this wasn't the end, hoping that she would wake up and say it was all just a joke. He hoped that he would wake up and find it was all just a dream, to find his family there, alive. But it never came. 

He placed Kayla's body gently on the ground, he didn't even try to hold back his tears now, there was no use. He bent down and looked at his sister's face one more time, his tears dripping onto her closed eye lids then sliding down her cheek, giving the effect she was crying along with him. 

Manny remembered his mother had told him that crying would solve nothing. Even though it seemed as if his life was over now, he had no family, no home, nothing. He knew that crying couldn't bring back his deceased family. He pulled himself up to his full height.

"Kayla, I promise you I will go on, I'm gonna avenge you and mama and those Meramon will pay for what they did to you." Manny turned his back on his sisters' dead body, determined not to look back, "They'll pay for what they did." 

"Oh will we." Manny spun around to face whoever had said that. Standing there, in the rubble, was a Meramon, holding his sister's body by the foot. He looked her over then, without thought, threw her into the rubble. 

Manny was shocked and angered by this. His eyes lit up with grief and anger. But he knew he had to stay strong, stay with it or his families sacrifice would have been in vain 

"You'll pay!" He yelled running up to it. He knew was no match for the taller bigger digimon, but in his anger he didn't even notice.

The Meramon merely shrugged off Manny's attack. It picked him up around the waist and looked him straight in the eye. Manny would never forget the look in that Meramon's eyes, it was pure evil.

It was as if it had no soul at all, as if it were incapable of feeling. He stared deep into its purple, black eyes, trying, in vain, to find any signs of life. There were none. How could something be so evil? What could have happened to it to make it like this? What could have taken its soul, depriving it of the most simple feelings.

"I'll turn you into Pumpkinmon pie you little brat."

Manny was frozen with fear; he saw his short life flash before his eyes. All the things he had experienced, all the happy and sad memories in his life came together in a collage before his eyes. Memories of his sister, of his mother, of his friends playing ball they all gathered in his mind in merely a second. 

It seemed to take forever as he waited for the final blow. Waited for the pain and agony to be over, to be with his sister once again. To be reunited with his family in heaven. He closed his eyes and pictured them in his mind, waiting for his sadness to end.  

The Meramon drew his arm back ready to send the little Pumpkinmon flying to the ground. It stopped to look into its victims eyes. Usually Witchmon's slaves would kill anything that moved without hesitation, but it stopped. 

It stared into his fear filled eyes, taking in every emotion he let show. Fear, sorrow, loneliness; these were all things this Meramon had not experienced in a while. It pursed its lips in anger. Why couldn't it feel these emotions anymore? Why was it deprived of such simple things? It had had enough. If it couldn't feel these things why should anything else? Why should it miss out?

            It shook its fiery head, brushing those thoughts aside. It brought its fist down and punched Manny, sending him flying into the pile of rubble. He landed with a soft thud, right next to his sister's body.

It watched as the boy writhed in pain for a moment before falling limp. It drew a deep breath and sighed. It would destroy anything that could feel those emotions. It would make them pay; make them feel what it felt. Nothing.

Manny and his family weren't the only digimon that were sacrificed that day. Witchmon's henchmen were sent to three other digimon villages in the area. All digimon were killed that day were in the name of Witchmon. Many other digimon were killed during the reign of the dark digimon. This is merely the tragic story of one of the unfortunate digimon that the digidestined couldn't save.       

**

"Damn stinking teacher, making me clean computers. What the hell would she know?" Davis muttered sitting down in front of one of the computers.

"Well maybe if you weren't talking through class you wouldn't be in this mess." Demiveemon said helpfully.

"You're not helping me." Davis said, "If you want to go clean some computers…

"Hey I wasn't the one who got in trouble for talking in class."

"Shut up Gatomon." Davis replied.

"What did you call me?" Demiveemon asked fuming

"I called you Gatomon," Davis said with a smirk.

"I do not like Gatomon!" Demiveemon said turning away and crossing his short little arms across his chest.

"Yeah sure I know you like her 'she's so graceful'" Davis chided.

"Whatever, Kari." Demiveemon replied. Davis immediately stopped and glared at Demiveemon.

"Shut up!" He yelled sitting down and pouting.

"Did you ask her to come and watch you play soccer?" Demiveemon asked changing the subject, but that only seemed to upset Davis even more.

"She thinks stupid TD is more important than me." He said slamming his hand down on the desk, "What the hell does she see in him anyway?"

"So she's not gonna go see you play?" Demiveemon asked in shock.

"Damn right, no one wants to watch me play, there all to busy with other stuff. Not even Tai has the time to come and watch."

"That's disgusting!" Demiveemon said appalled by the lack of interest the others showed in Davis. It may not be a very big deal but it just shows that they're not there to support Davis. How would that make him feel? Obviously pretty bad considering he had been in a bad mood for nearly the whole week, poor guy.

"Don't worry Davis, I'll be there to watch you." Demiveemon said hopping up onto Davis' lap.

"Thanks Demiveemon." He said. 

They sat in silence for a moment, but the quiet was broken by a tapping sound coming from the computer Davis was sitting in front of. They both stared at the screen. Unbeknownst to them, while they had been talking, the digiport had opened and in there a girl, about Davis' age, tapped on the screen. Behind her a polar bear like digimon surveyed the port with mild curiosity. 

Davis stood up so fast it sent Demiveemon flying to the ground with a thump. Davis immediately pulled out his digivice.

"Digiport open!" He yelled. The familiar white light surrounded him as he was downloaded to the digiworld.     

**

Polarmon sniffed the air for signs that any other digimon inhabited the cave. She found her nose was clogged with sand and every time she sniffed she just sneezed instead. 

"Shhh," Iris hushed Polarmon, "You don't want to give away our position to any hostile digimon in the area do you?"

"I'm sorry, I got sand in my nose." 

They continued deeper into the cave, both making as little noise as possible. They soon found themselves in a huge room that was brightly lit by an unknown source. It was the most beautiful thing Iris had ever seen. Crystals grew off the walls; they were probably the source of light for the place as they emitted a faint bluish green glow. 

She walked around a large rock formation and spotted a huge, crystal clear, pool of water. She lent over to look into it but she couldn't see the bottom. The water just reflected the light of the surrounding crystals. She could see her reflection as clear as if she were looking into a mirror. 

She sat admiring herself for a moment but the reflection was ruined by a huge splash of water as Polarmon jumped into the pool. She stared at the pool, looking frantically for any sign of her digimon partner, but the only thing she could see was the reflection of the roof. Polarmon's head popped up from under the water. Iris was taken aback; She couldn't see Polarmon's body. Where the water met her body it was just the reflection of the roof. Her body just disappeared into the water. 

Iris plunged her hand into the pool and stared in shock at the place where she expected to see her hand, just the reflection of her surprised face. 

"What are you gawking at Iris" Polarmon said swimming over to her.

"I can't see below the water." She mumbled

"So… just get in and wash yourself off." Iris immediately snapped out of her trance.

"Is it cold?" She asked pulling off her shoes.

"Nope, it's just right." Polarmon replied rolling over onto her back and attempting a backstroke.

"Alright," Iris ran over to the pool and jumped in. Polarmon lost sight of her for a second, but her head popped out form under the water and she let out a yelp.

"Are you insane Polarmon?" She screamed, "This water is freezing." She swam over to the edge and jumped out.

"Well what do you expect, I'm a polar bear."

"Damn stinking polar bears." She mumbled drying herself with an old piece of clothing. 

She sat down on a rock and mumbled miserably. She let her eyes wander around the beautiful cave. Even though she had travelled around the digiworld and seen almost everything anyone could possibly see some things still amazed her. 

Like this cave for instance, above the other side of the pool was a small rocky outcropping that had been worn away by the water so it formed a sort of cove. On top of that all sorts of colourful flowers grew, making the ledge look like a miniature forest looking over the sea. 

Her eyes wandered further around the cave taking in the beautiful aqua light that some crystals on the wall emitted. The crystals seemed to grow out of the wall, lining it like wallpaper. But the thing she liked most about them was the light. Aqua was her favourite colour, probably why she liked Polarmon. Her fur had a slight aqua tinge to it; that wasn't the only reason though.

As her eyes wandered further she caught sight of something very out of place. She instantly jumped up and walked over to the object. 

"A TV?" She asked herself

"Hey Polarmon c'mere." She heard Polarmon splashing and then the sound of wet paws on rock.

"What's that?" Polarmon asked shaking her fur sending fat droplets of water everywhere.

"It's a TV."

"What's a TV?" Polarmon asked circling it "Is it edible?"

"No silly, you can watch all sorts of programs on a TV," Iris explained playing with the buttons on it, "But I don't know what one's doing out here, it's not even plugged into anything." She picked up the cord and twirled it around in her fingers.

"Hey Iris, who's that?" Polarmon was staring at the screen confused. 

Iris looked at the screen in surprise, there was a boy in there, and he didn't look very happy. This wasn't the normal programming she had seen on TV at home. It looked as if he were talking to himself. She couldn't hear what he was saying but he was definitely not talking to anything.

Iris tapped on the screen; that seemed to get his attention. He stared at them in amazement, for a minuet. He then pulled out a little gadget and yelled something into the screen. She couldn't tell what he said but all of a sudden the screen went white.


	2. A strange Meeting

Chapter 2: A Strange Meeting 

"Ah!" Iris jumped away from the TV as Davis and Veemon fell out of it.

"Wh-where did you come from?" Iris cautiously moved around the two to Polarmon.

"Ouch…" Davis stood up rubbing his hind quarters, he glanced at Iris and Polarmon then down at Veemon, who was in the same pain as he was.

"Who are you?" Iris asked. Gathering her courage she stood to her full height and glared at the intruder.

            "…I'm Davis Motomiya, and you are?" 

"Iris Yuki… and this is Polarmon." She motioned to the white bear at her side.

            "Polarmon, the Polar bear digimon. She's the fastest swimming land digimon, so she can catch you on land or in sea. I'd watch out for her icicle breath if I were you." Veemon said helpfully. 

            "Thanks, I'll remember that…" Davis said sarcastically, "anyway, how did you get in the digiworld, or are you a digidestined?"

            "A what?" She asked, surveying Davis in confusion. 

            "You're not a digidestined?" Davis asked, he rolled his eyes back into his head and scratched the back of his head ponderously, "of course your not, only really good people like me can be a digidestined."

            "Whatever…" Iris muttered, "Anyway, where did you come from?"

            "I'm from Japan." 

            "You're kidding," Iris replied sarcastically, eyeing Davis dangerously. "What I want to know is how you came into the digiworld."

            "Huh? I used my digivice." He held out his digivice for her to inspect.

            "You mean you can get back to the real world?" She asked, suddenly interested in the conversation.

            "Well yeah, but I don't really want to." He muttered 

            "Why not, why would you want to be stuck in this death-trap?"

            "I'd rather be in this 'death-trap' than to face Kari and all the others in the real world." Iris stared, dumbfounded, "You wouldn't understand, no-one does."

            "But, why would you not want to go to the real world?" She asked Polarmon, Polarmon shrugged, "Can you take me to the real world?" 

            Iris turned and scooped both of Davis' hands up in her own. Her eyes shone noticeably, but whether from tears or excitement Davis couldn't tell. What was wrong with this girl anyway? He didn't understand what was so exciting about the real world, it was just like the digital world but less interesting. 

            "I-I guess so, just not now, I need time to think." 

            "I can't believe it Polarmon I'm going back!" Iris grabbed both of Polarmon's front paws in her hands and attempted some sort of strange dance with the unfortunate digimon. 

            "But Iris…" Polarmon interrupted, trying her best to remove her paws from Iris' grasp, "If you go I'll never see you again." 

            "That's not true," Veemon said, "Digimon can go into the real world, just like humans can come into the digiworld." Iris hopped next to Polarmon.

            "You hear that Polarmon! You can come too, to the real world!" She bent down and hugged Polarmon tightly.

            However, their celebrations were interrupted by a loud beeping noise. While they had been dancing Davis had walked over to the pool of water.

            "Woah, my digivice is going crazy." He exclaimed holding up his digivice. A thin beam of light shot from the digivice and disappeared under the water.

            "What does that mean?" Iris asked walking over and peering into the pool.

            "I don't know but I'm going to check it out." Davis stripped off his shirt and dived into the pool.

            "I can't see him anywhere." Veemon yelled, panicking.

            "Don't worry, look." She plunged her hand into the water and let Veemon observe where the water reached her wrist only the reflection of the crystals remained.

            "It disappeared." He observed.

            "It's crazy hey," she pulled her hand out and dried it on her pants, "It's like a reflection pool." 

            Davis' head popped up from under the water, and he gasped for air.

            "This water is freezing." He said swimming over to the edge.

            "What did you find?" Veemon asked him.

            "Look." He placed an aqua coloured digivice on the ground before climbing out himself.

            "A digivice." Veemon pointed out, "I wonder who's it is." 

            Davis shrugged and pulled his shirt back into place.

            "Maybe it's hers." He said pointing to Iris.

            "Hey, I have a name you know." Iris pouted.

            "Sorry," He mumbled, "anyway why don't you try it out?" He picked the digivice up and handed it to Iris. As soon as it touched her skin it began to glow. 

            "Is it supposed to glow like this, or is it broken?" Iris held it in both hands, her face bathed in the silver glow of the digivice, her blue eyes reflecting the crystal clear light making them glow in return.

            "Try it out." Davis nudged her side.  

            "How?" 

            "Polarmon, try to digivolve." Veemon said.

            "How am I supposed to do that?" Polarmon asked staring at the digivice, "You make it sound like eating cake or something."

            "Just gather all your energy, the light from the digivice should help you." Veemon said guiding Polarmon.

            Polarmon squeezed her eyes shut and scrunched her nose comically. She began to glow a faint white light, the same colour the digivice emitted. The light brightened until all they could see was Polarmon's outline against the intense glare. 

            "Yes, she's doing it." Veemon exclaimed.

            "Polarmon digivolve to…" the light slowly began to fade, and Polarmon could once again be seen, hunched slightly, her eyes still squeezed shut.

            "What happened?" Veemon asked, confused.

            "I don't know, is that digivolving?" Polarmon asked surveying each of her limbs carefully.

            "Well, no," Veemon said sympathetically, "But don't worry you'll get the hang of it. 

            Iris let out a small yelp, as the white light that surrounded her grew until she was completely consumed by it. 

            "Iris!" Polarmon yelled squinting against the blinding light," What's happening?" 

            "I don't know." Davis shielded his eyes with his arm and groped his way towards Polarmon. The light continued to grow until it took on the shape of a huge bird. It's great wingspan touched the tops of the cave and the silhouette of it's head was punctured by two gaping black holes. It shrieked a most awful sound that shook the very walls of the cave. 

            "What digimon is that?" Davis asked, awestruck

            "I don't know… but it doesn't look very happy." Polarmon commented backing slowly away from it.

            "Who disturbs me?" A booming voice asked.

            "Who are you?" Polarmon yelled to the blinding white bird. 

            Below the bird Iris walked into view, still clutching the glowing digivice in both hands. Her eyes were glazed and her face pale. She opened her mouth wide and begun talking in a deep booming voice.

            "I am Geniemon." Its voice seemed to come from all corners of the cave, and then echo off each wall making it seem louder and more ominous than it should have. 

            The huge glowing bird began to change shape again, and took on the form of a white spirit whose impossibly black eyes contrasted vividly with the purest white of its form.

            "Who wakes me?" Iris said again.

            "Davis, should I digivolve?" Veemon asked frantically gaping at the menacing spirit. Davis immediately pulled out his D3.

            "Digiarmor energize!" Davis yelled holding his D3 up.

            Polarmon watched in amazement as a shock of white light shot from the D3 and surrounded Veemon. The light was so blinding Polarmon had to divert her eyes, Veemon was lost within it.  

            "Veemon digivolve to… Flamedramon, the fire of courage." The light receded and where the small blue dragon had once stood now an intimidating armour plated warrior appeared

            "That's digivolving?" Polarmon asked, mesmerized 

            "No time to talk, "Flamedramon said jumping into the air, "Fire Rocket"

            A huge ball of fire appeared in the warriors' hand which he hastily threw at the genie; it recoiled in pain but immediately recovered.

            It glared at Flamedramon with those soulless black eyes and started to change its form again. This time it took on the form of a Flamedramon, exactly like Veemon but with fathomless black eyes and an outstanding white radiance.

            "Fire rocket!" they yelled in unison. Together, they sent identical balls of fire hurtling at each other. The two fire balls collided with one another, causing a ground shaking explosion. Flamedramon jumped back and attacked again, as did Geniemon. Again, a huge explosion resulted.

            "Flamedramon aim for the digivice!" Davis yelled over the ear splitting din.

            Flamedramon nodded at Davis and aimed an attack straight at the digivice in Iris' hands, unfortunately Geniemon intercepted it.

            "Davis, he keeps blocking my attacks." Flamedramon yelled, shooting another attack at the digivice. Again Geniemon blocked, and countered.

            "Just keep fighting!" Davis ran over to Polarmon who was staring at Iris in a stupefied shock.

            "Polarmon!' Davis shouted, Polarmon turned and started at Davis helplessly

            "Iris…" she whimpered, "There's nothing I can do."

            "Polarmon!" Davis yelled over the sounds of battle, "Polarmon, go and get the digivice." 

            Polarmon stared at Davis for a moment, the resolve building up behind her eyes. She nodded grimly and bounded into action. Avoiding the two battling Flamedramon's with a catlike grace she leapt into the air and snatched the digivice out of Iris' hands with her mouth. 

            Geniemon let out a spine tingling wail as it shifted it's form back to the original wispy wraith. A great wind whipped through the cave and the Geniemon was sucked back into the digivice. Iris' eyes returned to their normal shade before she fell limply to the floor.   

            "Iris!" Polarmon yelled, dropping the digivice and running over to her trainers' aid.

            She nudged Iris' face with her paw, attempting to wake her. She was successful as Iris' eyes fluttered open.

            "Iris, you're okay." Polarmon observed, tears building up at the corners of her eyes, "I thought you were a goner."

            Iris smiled and gave a weak laugh, "You underestimate me." She whispered

            Polarmon nudged the girl with her nose once before turning to Davis and bowing her head solemnly.

            "Thank you, Davis, thank you Veemon. Without your help I don't know what I would have done. We are in you're debt." Davis and Veemon both blushed

            "It was nothing," They said in unison  

            "What happened?" Iris asked, sitting up and rubbing her head; "I only remember being surrounded by this light and then…"

            "It doesn't matter, I'll tell you later, I'm just glad your okay." Polarmon whispered nudging Iris once again with her nose.

            "Hey guys I think I found the problem." Davis said, picking up the aqua digivice and surveying it closely, "I think it's this gold thing." He pointed to a small golden emblem stuck on the back of the digivice. 

            "If I can get this off…" He said pulling at the emblem; it came off with a small clink. 

            Davis looked it over intently, it was quite pretty. Engraved with small yet indefinable symbols, it glowed with a strange white light. He couldn't read the symbols, yet somehow he could guess what they might have said. It didn't really matter anyway, if he kept it, it might somehow unleash itself again. He ran his eyes across it once more before throwing it into the pool. With a quite 'plunk' the emblem was gone.

**

"Hello Mrs. Kamiya, yes, I was wondering if you've seen Davis? … You haven't…well if you see him could you please tell me… thank you …good bye."

            "Any luck?" Jun asked.

            "No he's not there either." Davis' mother replied

            "Where could that little brat be?" Jun asked clenching and unclenching her fist

            "Jun, do you have idea why Davis would run away like this?" Her mother asked. "Has he been having any trouble at school or anything?"

            "I don't know I don't have any idea why he would do something like this." Jun replied half-heartedly.

            Jun hugged her mother as she started to cry.

**

"Mistress Witchmon, we have destroyed most digimon villages in the area." The Bakemon delivering the news materialized in front of Witchmon's throne.             "Very good." She said in her croaky, ageless voice, "this is exactly what I expected from you."             "But…" The Bakemon continued, "We have learned that the digidestined are also in the area."             "What?" Witchmon asked, her eyes turning from a placid yellow to fiery red, "Why didn't you destroy them?"             "Well… we must be cautious of the digidestined…" The Bakemon trailed off.             "What do you mean 'be cautious' of the digidestined? Are you implying that I cannot defeat the digidestined?"             "No mistress Witchmon… it's just I have learned they are very powerful… and you know what happened to the other dark lords…." Witchmon's eyes lit up with rage.             "So are you saying I am the same as those pushovers?"             "No mistress Witchmon…" the Bakemon was cut off by a crackling sound.             Witchmon had formed a ball of blue fire in the palm of her hand. She threw it at the unfortunate Bakemon. There was a terrible howl and the Bakemon was disintegrated.             "Now let that be a lesson to all you other digimon who try to defy me." She screeched through the halls of her castle. Every digimon in earshot cringed with fear of their powerful leader. ** 

"So can you tell me what happened before?" Iris asked Davis across the fire.

Davis' eyes didn't shift from the fire when he replied.

            "You were possessed," He glanced at her; from the light of the fire her face appeared a sickly orange and her eyes a murky sea green, "You were possessed by Geniemon. Flamedramon tried to save you but he wasn't strong enough…" He trailed off shifting his gaze back to the fire.

            "So what happened?" 

            "Polarmon saved you, she grabbed to digivice out of your hands, and after that Geniemon just disappeared."

Iris looked over to Polarmon, she was sleeping snugly next to the fire, and Veemon was using her as a makeshift pillow.

            "Did she digivolve?" 

            "No… I'm guessing Geniemon stopped her, but if you try again it should work."

            They sat in silence for many minutes. Iris broke the silence.

"Are we going to go back to the real world tomorrow?"  Davis didn't answer her, "Davis?"

            "Hmm?" His eyes met her across the fire, his eyes shone with unshed tears. She decided to drop the subject.

            "Nothing… I'm going to go to sleep now, goodnight." She lay down next to the fire, trying the best she could to make herself comfortable.

            Davis watched as she shifted on the hard ground. She somehow reminded him of Kari. Although they look nothing alike, and they acted completely different, he couldn't help but think of Kari every time he looked at her.

            He gave a long, tired sigh. Kari. Of course he would think of her, he had liked her for so long. Three years is a long time to have a crush on someone, especially someone who obviously didn't have even the slightest ounce of respect or love to even consider you. Why did she have to hurt him like that, the way her and TK were so close drove him mad. She said they were 'best friends' but Davis knew better than that. He knew they liked each other, maybe even loved each other. 

            She always told him there was nothing there but she couldn't fool Daisuke Motomiya. Although he knew she thought he was dumb, everybody thought he was dumb. The way they had been treating him recently showed how dumb they thought he was. 

            They'd always leave him out of their little outings and gatherings. Did they think they could hide it? Every time he'd walk into the room their conversations would stop and they'd all greet him, with their mocking eyes and cynical smirks. No one was that stupid not to notice, not even him. 

            Well from now on it wouldn't be like that, from now on he was going to show them his true self. First, however, he had to get over Kari. She was the basis of his demeaning little charade; if he could get rid of her then he wouldn't be bothered by his primitive need to impress her. 

            He told himself over and over again that he was over Kari, and he almost half believed himself. That was until he looked over to Iris. Memories of Kari came flooding back into his head. Why was it she reminded him of Kari? Was it because she had the same soft smile? Was it because of the way she talked? 

            No that wasn't it at all… 

            He thought of all the reasons he liked Kari. She was sweet and caring (to other people) She was beautiful, anyone could see that. She had the softest eyes, softest skin. Her hands were always warm, her smile so inviting. 

            On the contrary he didn't know anything about this Iris girl except that she was weird and possibly insane. She could even be dangerous; he wouldn't have the slightest idea. Up close he could see her hands were tough and calloused, from years of hardship. She could have been a farm girl? Her eyes sparkled with knowledge she knew she shouldn't know. With years of pain and blood, and sights she shouldn't have seen. Her smile was thin and devious, almost forced or mocking. Her hair, while it would have looked respectable brushed and washed, was unruly and dirty. How long had she been in the digital world? 

            There was evidence, comparing her to Kari was madness. They were completely opposite. If they ever met he was sure they wouldn't get along, not in a lifetime. Maybe it wasn't so much the fact that she looked or acted like Kari. Maybe it was the simple truth that she was the exact opposite of her that attracted him so. 

            He glanced at her once, over the fire. She looked a lot better in the sunlight, the orange fire glow made her look sickly and orange. Maybe this is what he needed to get over Kari, a distraction. Iris was the perfect candidate. The exact opposite of Kari, she would do perfectly. 

            He lay down in the hard dirt and smiled slightly before sleep overcame him. This is exactly what he needed. 

**

"Hey, Yolie, did Davis' mum call you last night?" Kari walked up to the counter of Yolie's shop. There weren't any customers right now but she still managed to look like she had too much to do. It didn't take much for her to get distracted, though, she immediately stopped cleaning the counter to greet Kari.

"Yeah she did actually, he didn't come home last night." Yolie dropped the rag she had been using to clean the counter and took off her apron, "What I want to know is why he would just up and run away like that?"

"I don't know…" Kari mumbled, staring past Yolie in a slightly dreamy way.

"He never seemed like the kind of person who would run away, especially before a soccer game." Yolie continued, removing her bandanna her wiping her forehead with it, "It's not like he has a reason or anything."

"I think I know why he… ran away." Kari started suddenly, blinking owlishly.

"You do?" Yolie surveyed Kari closely. Though she tried to hide it, Yolie could clearly see the guilt in her friend's eyes. 

"It's my fault that he ran away." Kari whispered confirming Yolie's suspicions.

"How could it be your fault?" Yolie asked sardonically, "He's probably got some idiot scheme in mind to make us all feel sorry for him. Don't go blaming yourself for Davis' stupidity.

"It's not," She shook her head defiantly "It's all my fault."

Yolie shook her head and laid a hand on Kari's shoulder

"He wanted me to go and watch him play soccer, but I told him I had to watch TK play basketball. It's all my fault." She shook her head again and balled her fists up beneath her chin, "and now he's out there, somewhere. He could be in trouble, he could be dead." Kari's voice took an a slightly hysteric note and her eyes widened

"Don't be stupid Kari, it's not your fault." Yolie said gingerly patting Kari's shoulder, "I somehow don't think he would have run away just because you blew him off for the, what, seven hundredth time?"

"But I can't help feel partly responsible; I've been ignoring him for the past few weeks. I know how badly he wants my attention, he's like a puppy. Doesn't he realise I need my space?" Kari looked pleadingly at Yolie, as if she held all the answers to the universe, "But still, I feel like I've let him down."

"I feel kinda bad myself," Confessed Yolie, "He came in here to help a couple of nights ago and I kicked him out because he was messing up the cash register."

"I guess maybe if we paid more attention to him he wouldn't have done this, I can only imagine how his parents feel. He may be a brat sometimes but that doesn't matter, he's still out friend. I hope he's okay." Kari trailed off and they both lapsed into a ponderous silence. 

"We really shouldn't have been so mean." Yolie said. They fell into silence once again.

"I guess we shouldn't really worry, "Kari started after a few painful moments of silence, "I mean, he doesn't have any money, so how far could he go?" 

            "More importantly, _where would he go?" Again the two girls trailed off into silence. They sat for many moments in the thoughtful silence, both staring mesmerised at the counter top. Suddenly, both girls were hit with an epiphany like lightening. They both looked up from the counter into each others eyes._

"You don't think…" Yolie started

"He could have gone to the digiworld?" Kari finished. 

Simultaneously, they smiled at each other and headed for the door at a run. Yolie's mother walked in just as they left.

"Yolie! Where are you going?" She yelled, but they were already out of earshot.

**

Iris awoke the next morning drowsy and exhausted. She had dreamed heavily that night of ghosts and spirits, most were now lost but one remained etched in her mind. She had dreamed of a genie, huge and green, with fathomless black eyes and a deep commanding voice. It had asked her for her wish, and she demanded the spirit send her back to the real world. It had laughed and grown like bamboo until all that was visible were it's golden teeth as it whispered in it's booming voice

            "Impudent child, you will never return!"

            It had reminded her scarily of the bible and the outrageous stories her mother had fed her as a child. It also made her wonder whether she really was damned to this nightmarish hell known as the digital world. She must have displeased God in some way. The thought brought unknown feelings of rage and helplessness to the pit of her stomach.          

            Carefully she sat up from her position next to the black charcoal that was their campfire. Her back popped loudly and her neck was painfully cramped. Beside her Polarmon still slept. Davis was nowhere to be seen.

            A fear as icy cold as death shot through her veins. He was gone, her last chance at returning had left her during the night. The spirit was right.

 So many things occurred to her. She wanted to scream and faint at the same time but neither came to her. Instead she sat in a dazed, stupefied confusion. Had he taken anything from her backpack?    

            Automatically she reached out to the backpack she had carried with her for uncountable years of her life. Everything was still there, the pocket knife, the salted meat, the canteen of water, the matches and her extra clothes. There was nothing he could have stolen but she should never have underestimated him. She should be grateful she was even alive.

            What kind of world had earth become? 

            To her right the bushes rustled, her instincts kicked in. With a speed and agility that wasn't usually assigned to humans of the modern world her pocket knife was in her hands and pressed dangerously against the predator's skin. The predator who yelled in terror and shielded his head with his arms.

            "Davis?" She asked releasing him immediately, he crumpled to the ground

"Good morning. " He croaked staring up at her with a mixture of awe and fear, 

"I thought you left." She said slowly stepping back from him 

"Yeah, to take a leak," He replied climbing to his feet and brushing the dirt off his clothes. Iris blushed

"I'm sorry." She turned her back to him and retreated towards the campfire, "I'm not used to trusting people." 

"That's okay," He said, his voice shook slightly and he rubbed the place on his neck where she had pressed the somehow sharp knife, "Just don't do it again." 

She smiled shyly. He could see the evidence of years of hardship in her eyes; her smile looked so fake, yet sincere at the same time. 

"I'll go get some more firewood." She muttered turning away and starting into the cave

"Wait, don't worry about it," Davis said grabbing her shoulder firmly, "We'll go straight back to the real world once Veemon gets back. I think I've spent enough time here."

Iris' eyes lit up like a child. Davis smiled the first real smile he had felt in what seemed like forever.

She turned from the cave and made her way over towards her still sleeping digimon partner. 

"Polarmon," She said shaking the digimon fiercely, "Polarmon, wake up, we're going to the real world." 

Davis chuckled at the obvious note of excitement in her voice. She made it sound like she was going to a carnival or something. Polarmon awoke with a grunt.

"We're going to the real world." Iris repeated. Polarmon grunted again and climbed to her feet

"Try not to show too much enthusiasm." Veemon appeared from behind a clump of bushes. His was soaking wet and smiling broadly.

"Well now that we're all together let's get going." Davis said marching into cave.

He couldn't wait to get back and show TK just what he found in the digiworld. No doubt he'd be jealous as sin. And as long as Iris was there to distract him he wouldn't have waste his time brooding over Kari's lack of interest.

Davis couldn't help but smile when he reached the TV that signalled a digital portal. 

"Hey Davis won't your parents be wondering where you've been all night?" Veemon asked before Davis had a chance to open the portal

"Nah they won't care, they'll just think I'm at Tai's place." He discarded the idea with a wave of his hand.

            "So how does this thing work?" Polarmon interrupted, surveying the TV curiously

"You use your digivice to get back." He said displaying his digivice for both Polarmon and Iris to see

            Iris opened her backpack and retrieved her digivice, studying it sceptically.

            "Now, all you have to do is hold the digivice up to the screen and say: 'Digiport open.'" Iris watched in amazement as Davis and Veemon were surrounded by an almost blinding white light and erased from her vision.

            "Well," Polarmon prodded impatiently, "Go ahead."

            Gingerly Iris approached the TV held her digivice out. She closed her eyes and muttered the words

            "Digiport open." 

She found herself flying through a tunnel with sides showing symbols and pictures. They were familiar, how could she not know what they were, she'd been to so many temples and old digimon ruins she couldn't count them on her fingers and toes. These symbols were everywhere. She hadn't deciphered them yet though

The end of the tunnel was filled with light and as she passed through the barrier that separated the human and digital worlds she had to shield her eyes from the blinding glare. She tumbled unceremoniously from the portal onto a chair with wheels that toppled over from her weight.

"We really gotta put some cushions here." Davis muttered from beside her.

Iris stood up slowly, checking herself for injury. She glanced beside herself where a familiar white digimon stood.

"Snowmon?" Iris stared at her digimon in shock; "You changed?"

"That's what happens when ever digimon come into the real world." Davis explained picking up Demiveemon and placing him on his shoulder

Iris nodded and smiled crookedly. Davis couldn't help but grin, she was more than perfect.

They stared at each other in blissful silence for moments, or was it hours? Davis couldn't tell. Iris broke eye contact and took to staring at the door instead. 

            "There's someone out there." She said edging carefully over to the door. Davis found himself blushing slightly. 

            "There shouldn't be, it's a Saturday." He mumbled, diverting his eyes from Iris. 

            A few seconds later he heard two sets of footsteps echoing from the halls. She was right. How had she known?    

            "Don't they know they're not supposed to run in the halls?" Davis said walking to stand behind Iris. 

            The footsteps gradually increased in volume. There were now voices to accompany the feet. Davis recognised them at once and frowned.

_            "Do you really think he's in the digiworld?" _

_            "It's worth a try."  _

            "Kari." He said, startling Iris

            "Who's Kari?" She asked innocently, as if she couldn't identify God if his name were spoken. 

            However, Davis needn't answer her question because, at that same time tow girls burst into the room. In a flurry of brightly coloured clothes and high pitched screaming all three girls went down in a heap. 

            Iris was first to her feet. Her pocket knife had appeared in her hand at some point and her pointing threateningly down at Yolie and Kari, who, in turn, stared up at the blue haired girl in surprise. 

            "Who're you?" Yolie asked rudely, untangling herself from Kari and climbing to her feet. She dusted her clothes off and eyes the pocket knife warily.

            "We're not going to hurt you." Kari took her place next to Yolie and extended her hand in a friendly gesture.

            Iris grunted and pocketed her weapon. She turned to face Davis, a scowl noticeably printed on her face.

            "Who are these people?" Her eyes flashed dangerously

            Davis flinched. She wasn't going to turn feral and start attacking them was she? She really must have been in the digital world a long time for her to be so suspicious. Davis carefully picked his words.

            "These are two of my friends, Kari and Yolie." He kept his eyes locked on hers while he gestured noncommittally towards to two girls. 

            Iris scoffed again and moved to stand next to him. Again she surveyed the pair carefully, warily. 

            "Davis," Kari started after a few moments of tension filled silence, "We've been looking for you."

            "Really?" He replied, laying a hand on Iris' shoulder.

            "Your mother called us last night." Yolie said simply, her eyes were still locked on Iris, "She was worried."

            "We were all worried, Davis. We thought you might have run away." Kari began to advance, gesturing with her hands and capturing him with her eyes.

            "I did." He replied. Kari stopped

            "Why?" She whispered softly

            He didn't answer. 

            There was silence again. A long, drawn moment drifted by as the tension built to a point of suffocation. Davis and Kari seemed to be holding a conversation with their eyes while Iris and Yolie silently challenged each other. Yolie broke the silence.

            "Who is she?" 

            Davis was startled out of his trance. He blinked owlishly and turned, dazed, to Iris.

            "This is Iris." He stated plainly

            "Where did you pick her up?" Yolie sauntered over to Davis and began nudging him with her elbow.

            "The digital world." He replied narrowing his eyes at Yolie. She ceased, moved to stand in front of Iris and held her hand out.

            "Nice to meet you." She said, taking Iris' hand and shaking it hastily.  

            Iris looked fearfully at Davis, then at Yolie, then back at Davis. He couldn't help but smile slightly, Yolie had that effect on people.

            "Why did you run away Davis?" Kari asked softly, drawing Davis' attention back to herself. 

            "I needed some time to think." He replied austerely 

            "We were worried about you," She repeated

            "Really?" Davis smiled mysteriously and nodded his head, "I should be getting home. Mum's probably worried." 

            Kari frowned and her eyes flicked towards Iris.

            "Who's Iris going to stay with? Does she have any family in Japan?"

            Davis turned to Iris, she shrugged.

            "Not anymore, even if they lived in the same place they probably don't remember me."

            "How long were you in the digiworld?" Yolie asked, dropping Iris' hand.            "Long enough." She replied. Her eyes turned inward and her features took on a serious, melancholy look. 

            "You can stay with me if you want." Davis offered immediately. Kari's eyes widened.

            "Don't be silly, she wouldn't want to stay with you." She turned to Iris, "You can stay with me."

            Iris looked pleadingly in Davis' direction. She didn't argue though, with a silent nod from Davis she accepted Kari's invitation.

            "I better be getting home." Davis said suddenly and left the room without another word.

            Iris let her eyes flick from Kari to Yolie and back again. How much had the real world changed in her absence? 

            "Well we'd better be going as well." Kari said with a shy smile. She led Iris out of the room labelled 'computers.' 

**

"Did you find the digidestined?" Witchmon asked the Meramon that stood dutifully in front of her throne.

            "Well we found them but…" the Meramon trailed off 

            "But…" Witchmon chided raising one crooked eyebrow warningly 

            "They escaped before we could launch our attack." The Meramon finished quietly

            "Well why didn't you follow them?" The Meramon could feel Witchmon's eyes rolling over its body. It flinched noticeably and Witchmon smiled  

            "They disappeared into a strange device, Mistress Witchmon, we were unable to pursue them."

            "And what kind of 'strange device' might you be talking about?" Witchmon asked cynically 

            "We're not quite sure yet, Mistress, I have someone analysing it as we speak."  

            "What do you take me for?" She asked quietly. The Meramon lifted its eyes to meet those of its superiors. It flinched again, her eyes flashed with malice. It could feel the end drawing near. 

            It didn't answer. 

            "I asked you a question." Witchmon wrapped one hand around the arm of her throne. The other hung ominously above her lap, "Do you defy me?" 

            The Meramon didn't answer

            Witchmon smiled, "You have sealed your fate, impudent maggot."  

            The Meramon didn't see the icicles Witchmon fired at him until they were lodged firmly in its chest. Before it died it glanced into Witchmon's eyes, surveying them for any sympathy, regret. There was none.

**

"So how did you get into the digiworld again?" Kari asked Iris. 

            Iris was sitting on a desk chair combing her wet hair straight. Her eyes travelled lazily over the bland, under-furnished room. She didn't look impressed 

            "It's a long story," She replied simply, refusing to meet Kari's eyes 

            "That's alright I'm in the mood for long stories." Kari sat on the end of her bed and stared curiously at Iris. 

            Iris began to shift uncomfortably under Kari's stare. She looked ready to deny Kari her story, but instead picked up a sleeping Snowmon from the floor and began patting it on the head 

            "Alright…: She began awkwardly, her eyes wandering aimlessly anywhere but to Kari, "It happened when I was about eight years old. My family was on holiday in America. I was with my father at the time…" She hesitated, flinching at the memory, but continued, "There was a tram. I don't know where it came from; there weren't any trams in the street. It hit me. I wasn't hurt, didn't have a scratch on me, instead I found myself in a forest with Snowmon by my side. I've been in the digital world ever since, travelling, trying to find a way out…"  

            "And then Davis turned up in the same place you were?" Kari said thoughtfully 

            "Yes…." Iris replied, finally meeting Kari's eyes. Kari couldn't help but flinch at the years that shone in Iris' eyes. Years of struggle, years of knowledge, years of staring death in the face and neither flinching nor relenting. There were years of unshed tears, years of pride, of struggle. She had seen things she should have and she knew it. 

            "What is your relationship with Davis?" Iris asked, startling Kari out of her thoughts. The years in her eyes had disappeared behind a mask of pride. Instead Iris considered Kari mutely   

            "What do you mean?" Kari couldn't hold her gaze any longer, she turned away and looked out the window

            "I mean what I said, what is your relationship with him?" Iris replied in the same flat tone she had asked the question

            "We're friends, nothing more." Kari replied, moving her gaze to stare at her fidgeting hands, "though sometimes I think he thinks we're something more."

            Iris said no more. She stood up, clutching a still sleeping Snowmon to he chest and began to exit the room. 

            "Why did you want to know?" Kari stopped her; she didn't turn to face Kari, only answered.

            "I've never seen someone look at another person the way he looks as you. I was curious." She left.

            Iris was staying in Tai's old bedroom. It was just as boring and under-furnished as Kari's, Iris found this perplexing. From what she could remember of her room, (which was considerably little) it had been bright and full of bric-a-brac. Useless junk she wouldn't have needed or used in her life. Maybe the real world had changed so much as to discard of that rubbish. Maybe Kari's family were just preservative.

            Iris didn't quite understand why but ever since she had returned she had felt a very ominous feeling of foreboding. More to the point, ever since she had been separated from Davis. It wasn't a great feeling, only a small prickling in her chest. Something big was going to happen soon, something she should take part in. 

            She suddenly regretted leaving the digital world.

**

"Ma, I'm home!" Davis called as he walked through the door.

            "Davis?" His mother called running out to meet him. She immediately enveloped him in a hug, "Davis where have you been? I've been so worried about you. You're not hurt are you?"

            "I'm fine." Davis said breaking out of his mother grasp. He could see tears building up in the corners of her eyes. He smiled

            "I'm so glad you're okay, don't you ever do that to me again you hear." She croaked wiping a tear away and sniffing back a sob

            "Yeah…" Davis replied, still 

            "Davis you worried your mother so much what were you thinking?" His father scalded him. There were tears in his eyes as well

            "Where were you anyway?" Jun added. Although she wasn't crying she considered Davis curiously. She hadn't been worried had she?

            "I… well…uh…" he trailed off into silence. His family waited expectantly, "I fell asleep in detention and I woke up in the computer room." He blushed at his lie. 

            "You stupid boy." His mother said hugging him again. Davis let out a sigh of relief, he'd got away with it this time, but if he were to try that again. He was surprised they believed it

            After his mother had finished fawning over his return he retired to his room. He never got used to sleeping on the floor and his back ached like hell. Unluckily for him he was stopped by Jun. She was vivid was anger

            "I know you're lying, where were you really?" She hissed, her eyes flashed

            "It doesn't matter." He replied, challenging her

            "Of course it matters you little dweeb. Do you know how worried Mum and Dad were about you? They were this close," She held her fingers inches from his face, "to calling the police. You're lucky you're as stupid as everyone takes you for or you would have had your ugly mug pasted over every convenient store for miles." 

            Davis shrugged

            "It hardly matters anymore, it's not like I'm dead in an alley anywhere. Why do you care so much anyway?"

            "It's not you I care about, it's mum and dad, they were having kittens."

            "Well it's all in the past now isn't it, you can get over it right?"

            Jun looked close to slapping him. He pushed past her to his room. He flopped down on his bead and almost immediately went to sleep. Well he would have if a small, very muffled voice alerted him

            "Demiveemon!" He exclaimed jumping up and unzipping his bag, releasing Demiveemon.   

            "I saw my life flash before my eyes." The little blue dragon muttered before falling down in a heap. Davis picked up the small digimon and placed him on his stomach when he lay down.

            "There, there it doesn't smell that bad does it?" Davis laughed and patted Demiveemon on the head

            "You're in a lighter mood today, I guess that trip did you good."

            "Guess it did." Davis replied, his eyes turned inward and a small, yet distinguishable smile played across his lips

            "Or should I say, Iris did you good?" Demiveemon offered 

            "I don't know what you're talking about." Davis' voice sounded far away and slightly devious. Demiveemon faltered

            "Are you okay Davis?" He asked, taken aback

            "Oh I'm better than alright," His smile widened

            "Okay you're scaring me now."

            Davis sat up so suddenly Demiveemon went tumbling

            "Don't you get it Demiveemon, this is my chance."

            Demiveemon didn't get it; he stared up at Davis in a confused, almost horrified way. Davis smiled

            "This is my chance to get back at them."

            Demiveemon continued to stare. Davis' words churned in his head, slowly, they registered and his face took on a horrified tone

            "You're going to use Iris to blackmail your friends?" 

            "Not exactly, there's not much to blackmail them with, they never told me anything. I'll simply make them jealous. You always told me to get over Kari, now's my chance."

            "I didn't mean like this Davis, that's really mean, you know."

            "How so?" 

            "Did you ever think about Iris?" Demiveemon crossed his tiny arms over his tiny chest and stared up at Davis with his large eyes

            "Oh I'm sure she wont mind," He waved the subject away with his hand, "And plus, she won't even notice. She doesn't have to do anything except be there."

            Demiveemon looked sceptical

            "How exactly is this ingenious plan of yours going to work?"

            "You leave the thinking up to me little man." Davis smiled again, Demiveemon sighed. He hoped Davis knew what he was getting himself into.


	3. Melodye

Chapter 3: Melodye  
  
"Okay children we have two new students in our class." Iris walked shyly into the classroom; she could feel everyone's eyes on her. It had been so long since she had been around this many children. She didn't really know how to act, or what to say.   
She was followed closely by another girl her age; she looked foreign.  
"This young lady," The teacher motioned towards Iris, "Is Iris?"  
Iris glanced around the class quickly; most of her peers seemed to be concentrating on the foreign girl. Only two people were looking at her, Davis and Kari. She felt relieved that she at least knew someone, even if Kari's gaze still made her nervous.   
"And this," The teacher muttered something to the girl in her native language, "is Melodye. She is an exchange student from America."   
"Hello," Melodye said shyly. All the girls swooned and whispered to each other about how cute she was. Iris was thankful for her presence.  
. The teacher again started talking to the girl in English; the girl nodded and took a seat next to Kari.  
"Kari, would you be able to help Melodye while she's staying here?" The teacher asked. Kari nodded and smiled.   
"Iris, dear, you can take a seat next to TK––down the back there." The teacher motioned to a blond haired boy that sat at the back of the classroom, obviously disinterested in everything that was happening around him and more absorbed in a comic book that he balanced in his lap. At the mention on his name he closed the book and slid it into his desk; his blush was obvious on his pale skin.  
Iris smiled hopefully at Davis as she passed him; he turned and scowled at TK. As she took her seat next to TK, he greeted her with a smile.  
"You new here?" He asked. Iris could feel the sarcastic remarks building up on the tip of her tongue; she bit them back  
"Yes," she replied, setting her back pack down next to her. There was nothing in there except an exercise book and a pen, it was extremely light  
"I'm TK, nice to meet you." He held out his hand and she took it without meeting his eyes.  
"You got quite a firm grip there." He commented, pulling his comic book out from under the desk and setting it onto his lap  
Iris didn't answer. She was glad when the teacher started talking again and TK lost interest in her.  
She hadn't been to school for eight years; there was so much she needed to know. How was she supposed to explain to the teacher she'd been stuck in the digital world for a large chunk of her life? The only lessons she had learnt out there were survival and self independence. She doubted that would be much help in the classroom.   
Those worries were shortly pushed to the back of her head to make way for more, less appealing ponderings. She would have gladly bashed her head against her desk until she fell unconscious than face these thoughts. Unfortunately that wasn't an option, and the thoughts came anyway.  
Where were her parents? They'd ask her that for sure. She had enrolled temporarily as a friend of Kari's; her mother didn't seem to fully understand her situation, but accepted Kari's explanation and asked few questions. Iris could see it in her eyes though, the question that plagued almost everyone she had met in the real world to date. Where were her parents?  
She would have gladly answered the question had she known herself. The fact that it didn't bother her as much as she would have liked scared her. Had she been away so long she no longer cared for her parents?  
Her situation reminded her scarily of a fairy tale her mother had once told her. (She remembered the story better than she did her mother, she was overcome with guilt) It was the story of Peter Pan, the boy who never wanted to grow up. He left his parents to go off the Neverland and have the adventure of a lifetime. But when he returned to his parents, they had barred the window. They had forgotten. After spending countless years in the Neverland, he, too, forgot them.  
A wave of guilt rushed over Iris and she felt herself blush. Was she in the same situation? Had her parents forgotten? Had she forgotten? Desperately she tried, in her mind, to form a picture of her mothers face. She had black hair, blacker than the night. Her eyes were… Brown? Blue? Iris couldn't remember. She had smiled like a queen and her skin was as white as moonshine.  
Iris shook her head, she was thinking about a porcelain doll. Her mother didn't look like a porcelain doll, did she? Iris closed her eyes and tried again. Her father, this time. Unruly brown bangs, long brown hair, strong, weathered hands. His smile was warm and harsh at the same time. Tall and strong.   
Iris snapped her eyes open. That wasn't her father; her father wasn't tall and strong. Was he? Frantically, Iris' eyes darted around the room. She really had forgotten. How did Peter Pan deal with it? How did he react when he found out his parents forgot about him? He visited other windows didn't he? He wanted to steal other people's parents.   
Iris' eyes landed guiltily on Kari. She didn't want to steal other people's parents; she didn't want to be guilty anymore. She had to find them no matter what the cost.  
A burning sensation in her chest alerted Iris that someone was staring at her. She glanced up and met eyes with the red headed exchange student. Biting down on her lip she opened her book and began scribbling on the page. Tomorrow she would look for them, tomorrow she would remember.  
  
**  
  
"So what exactly do you do all day Demiveemon?" Snowmon sat on top a row of lockers outside Home Room 13 with Demiveemon.  
"Well the best thing to do is raid the cafeteria." Demiveemon replied, grinning like a Cheshire cat  
"What's a cafeteria?" Snowmon asked, vexed. Demiveemon sighed  
"It's this wonderful place," Demiveemon explained waving his arms animatedly, "There are all sorts of goodies everywhere!"   
"You mean food?" Polarmon asked.  
"You bet!" Demiveemon jumped up from where he was sitting, "I'm getting hungry thinking of all this food, lets go."  
They took off down the hallways, stopping every now and then to avoid a stray teacher or student, or for Demiveemon to regain his sense of direction. ("This school is so big" was his excuse) Demiveemon stopped abruptly, causing Snowmon to slide and slam into the wall.   
"Here it is." They stood outside a door marked 'cafeteria'. "Can you give me a boost."   
Snowmon walked up to the door and braced herself while Demiveemon climbed on top of her.   
"Hurry up, you're heavy." Snowmon whined, trying to hold her partner up.   
"I nearly got it… nearly…" Demiveemon had grabbed hold of the door handle and was trying with his stubby little hands to open it.  
"I think I hear someone coming!" Snowmon said in panic. Shifting her weight, she caused Demiveemon to stumble.  
"Don't move…I've…nearly…got it." He managed to open the door just in time as Snowmon fell over and Demiveemon was sent crashing to the ground.   
"Jackpot!" he said, getting up and strolling in. Snowmon looked around cautiously before following Demiveemon into the cafeteria.   
The smell reached her nose before she saw it. Mountains of food, everywhere. This must have been a version of heaven, if not heaven itself.   
Demiveemon jumped up onto a chair and then onto a tabletop. His eyes glazed over when he saw the bountiful amounts off goodies.  
"This is heaven." He mumbled, immediately starting to stuff as much food into his little mouth as possible.  
Snowmon on the other hand was having enough trouble getting up on the chair.  
"Help." She whined. Demiveemon's head popped out from over the table,   
"Demiveemon I can't get up."  
"Hold on," He jumped down onto the chair and grabbed her mitted hand, and helped her climb onto the table. When Snowmon saw the mountains of food sitting there for their dispose, she was truly moved.  
"Thank you oh great and mighty lord," she whispered. She then followed Demiveemon in shoving all sorts of food in her mouth.  
"Hey what do you think you're doing." They both froze in place at the ominous voice.  
"Run." Was all Demiveemon said, and with that they jumped off the table and scampered off.  
"Damn strange cats, they really need to stop letting lab animals free. Oh well." The cafeteria lady grabbed a wastebasket and swept what was left of the rubbish and walked off.  
  
**  
  
"Hey! I'm sorry I'm late guys." Cody said, running up to the digidestined group, "You haven't started without me?"  
"No, were just starting." TK replied.  
"So what's the meeting for?" Cody asked.  
"It's the welcome of a new digidestined." Davis said proudly, wrapping his arm around Iris and pulling her into the circle of friends.   
"You're the new digidestined?" TK asked, blinking owlishly at Iris. She blushed  
"Yeah that's right, my good friend Iris." Davis said smiling cynically at TK.   
"How do you know she's a digidestined?" Cody asked, breaking the two boys staring contest  
"She's got a digivice, just like us." Yolie said holding up her own.  
Yolie glanced at Iris, who untangled herself from Davis and pulled out her own digivice. The group gathered closer to view the digivice in the dim park lights. It was slightly different from there's in shape and there were different buttons in different places. All in all it looked like a digivice.  
"So who's your digimon partner?" TK asked removing his eyes from the digivice  
"I am." A small voice piped up. Snowmon walked proudly into the circle, standing next to Iris.  
Their attention was drawn to Snowmon, who Iris picked up with haste.   
"She's so cute." Yolie said patting the snow-man digimon on the head. Snowmon looked indignantly at Yolie.  
So where did you come from?" TK asked Iris, "I mean I haven't seen you around here before."  
"I found her in the digiworld." Davis cut in proudly before Iris could reply   
"You make it sound like she's a wild animal." Kari scolded Davis, laying a hand on Iris' shoulder.  
"You were in the digiworld?" Cody asked thoughtfully.  
"Yeah," was her only reply.  
"How did you get in there?" TK asked.  
"It's a long story." She replied monotonously.   
TK looked ready to demand she tell the story before Kari cut in,   
"I'll tell you later." She looked at Iris, who nodded silently.  
"How long were you in there?" Cody asked softly, as if trying to avoid a sensitive subject  
"Eight years."   
"Wow, I don't know if I could last eight years in the digiworld." TK commented, folding his arms across his chest  
"It is an awful long time to be in there," Kari chimed in, "but you know what happens when new digidestined are found." She started  
"It means there's trouble." TK finished.  
"Wait a minute," Yolie interrupted. "Just because we found a new digidestined doesn't mean that there's trouble."  
"Yes it does, every time there's new digidestined, there's new evil. It's happened three times." Kari explained, "That's enough proof for me."  
"I guess you're right, but what could be threatening the digiworld now? And is there any more new destined?" Davis asked thoughtfully  
"I think I know who another is." Iris spoke up, her eyes flashed strangely.  
"You do?" Yolie asked, intrigued, "Who is it?"  
"The exchange student."   
"You think so?" TK asked, biting down on his bottom lip  
"I know." She replied, challenging TK silently to deny her  
"How?" Cody asked "I don't think any of us have just been able to know who a digidestined is or not."  
"Call it intuition." She replied hastily, breaking eye contact with TK   
"How do we know we can trust you?" TK asked, Kari looked ready to scald him but Iris replied instead.  
"I never asked you to trust me," She spared TK a glare before turning and walking away from the group.   
"Wait, Iris!" Davis was the first to start after her. Kari, too, started after but hesitated. Instead she took TK by the arm and pulled him away from Cody and Yolie  
"What was that all about?" She asked, her voice full of vehemence. She didn't wait for TK to reply before she continued, "She's been stuck in the digital world for the best part of eight years of her life and the first impression you give her is hostility. What is wrong with you TK? Have some faith in the girl; she's a digidestined just like us."  
"And how can we tell? How do we know she's not a servant of another dark master come to fool us into believing we can trust her? I for one don't want to fall into that trap. She's unpredictable, she's wild. She's been living with digimon for her whole life."  
"For the love of Christ TK, give her a break. I know we have every right to mistrust her because we know nothing about her. But we also have every right to believe her. I don't want to throw away this chance on suspicions, TK I don't want to ruin this friendship before it begins."  
TK sighed and brought his hands up to his face.  
"I know Kari, I know, I'm just being cautions. I don't want anyone to get hurt. You know those dark masters will stop at nothing to get what they want."  
Kari rested her hands on his shoulders  
"I know TK, but please, just trust me on this one. I have a good feeling about her."   
TK smiled and nodded his head once.   
"When you put it like that, how could I refuse?"  
  
**  
"Iris!" Iris heard Davis called. She contemplated stopping, then contemplated walking faster, and began to walk faster.  
She heard Davis break into a run behind her  
"Iris." He caught up to her and grabbed hold of her arm. Reflexes and instinct took over; she spun around and grabbed Davis' hand by the wrist, twisting it painfully. Davis grimaced in pain but said nothing; instead he stared intently into her eyes. She felt herself blush unexpectedly and let go  
"Iris," he said again, rubbing his wrist   
She scowled and turned her back to him. Before she could start to walk away his hand was on her shoulder again. This time she restrained herself.  
"Iris what was that all about?" He asked. When he was satisfied she wouldn't walk off he removed his hand from her shoulder.  
She didn't answer his question  
"Iris?" This time, she turned back around  
"It doesn't matter," she said, her eyes silently trying to convince him so  
"Yes it does, I want to know what happened back there." He denied her, "I know TK is a jerk, but…"  
"I told you, it doesn't matter."   
"I know, Iris - " She cut him off before he could finish.  
"No, you don't know, Davis; I don't think any of you know. I've been living in the digital world for eight years, Davis, eight years. That isn't an easy life and it tends to have an impact on someone." She stopped suddenly eyeing Davis dangerously, "I haven't been around this many people since I was eight." She finished quietly.  
Davis searched desperately for words he couldn't find. What was he supposed to say to comfort her? He knew nothing about her plight. Her eyes bore into him; half filled with anger, half with an unbound, uncontrolled sadness.   
Out of desperation Davis wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her into a tight hug. She didn't return it, only leant her weight up against him.   
"I know I couldn't possibly understand what you're going through, but don't think that stops me from caring." Unchecked, a tear rolled down Iris' cheek, "I trust you."  
"Its name is Witchmon." She said flatly, "she hypnotizes her prey, they become her slaves. Her tactic isn't that much different from the Digimon Kaiser, their goals aren't that different either."  
"You know about Ken?" Davis pulled away from the hug and looked her squarely in the eyes, "You know about the Kaiser?"  
"Of course I know," She snapped, "He only killed off half of the digimon population, and enslaved the other half."   
Davis blinked owlishly at her description of the once Digimon Kaiser. It was true that once upon a time Ken had been like that, but he changed. Davis couldn't possibly imagine Ken committing those crimes, not anymore.   
"I see." He said softly.  
Iris nodded distractedly, bringing her thumb up to her mouth to chew on the nail.   
"That means," Davis started pensively, "we were in the digital world while you were still in there."  
"Of course." She replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world, "I knew all along you were there, I saw you on occasion, you and your friends. When you defeated the Kaiser it was hard not to hear about your victory. When you befriended the Kaiser the outrage was unmistakable.   
"How could I not have heard about when you helped in the rebuilding of the digimon villages? When you stopped Arukenimon and her spire digimon, when you saved the destiny stones, when you prevented Malomyotismon destroying both worlds, how could I have missed it? You were the heroes of the digital world. You think I didn't know you were there?"  
"Why did we never see you?"  
"You never saw me because of the same reason TK dislikes me so. I mistrusted you. Who in their right mind would befriend the Kaiser? How much had the real world changed since my time? How tainted had its population become?   
"I had witnessed the destitution left behind after the destruction of Apocalymon. I was standing there while humans built their viruses and released them there like a jungle, I was watching patiently as those viruses took on digimon form and began their reigns of chaos. Nothing that came from the human world benefited those digimon, only you and your friends. How ironic that the cause of their suffering should save them from it.  
"Yet still, I was taught at a vulnerable, manipulative age that the digital world had been created and destroyed by humans and their viruses. They were the cause of suffering and destitution. How could I trust you with those thoughts in mind?" Iris sighed and rubbed her forehead with the heel of her hands, "When I saw you in that TV, when you came through, I was so confused. I knew only digidestined could pass into the digital world. I knew the instant I saw you, you were a digidestined. What was my position? How could I trust you? I didn't know how tainted the real world had become. All I knew was there was another evil in the digital world. If there was so much evil there, then surely some of it must be represented in the real world.   
"Then when you saved me from that Geniemon. I knew then that the real world was a better place than the digital world. Somehow, I had known all along. There were times when I didn't know if I wanted to go back, I knew what humans were capable of. But at that time, I knew for sure."  
Iris finished abruptly, glancing around the almost deserted park. Kari had left. In fact, she and Davis were the only of their group that remained.   
Davis hadn't interrupted her during her scattered speech, only now did he ask his question.  
"Do you regret coming back?"  
The question shocked Iris. She looked, dumbstruck, at Davis, like a deer caught in car headlights. She blinked owlishly a few times before turning her gaze to the ground.   
"I don't remember my parents, Davis; I don't remember what they look like." She paused, bit down on her bottom lip and squeezed her fist shut, "How do I know they'll remember me?"  
Davis didn't answer, only nodded once and smiled crookedly at Iris. She didn't want an answer anyway, didn't want to know she was forgotten. She forced a smile back.  
"It's dark," she commented. "I better go back. Kari might be worried."  
Davis nodded again, his half smile still in place. His eyes were sincere. Iris nodded once and began walking in the direction of the Kamiya apartment. Not long after Iris left, Davis left as well.   
  
**  
  
"I've had it with you good for nothing idiots." Witchmon bellowed, pounding her hands dramatically on the table, which her crystal ball sat glowing like the moon. She had just disposed of another useless digimon, "if you want something done right you have to do it yourself." She stood up form her throne, causing it to creak painfully.  
"You!" She shouted to a passing digimon.  
"Y-yes mistress Witchmon," the unfortunate digimon stuttered.  
"Get me my broom and I might just let you live."   
"Yes your evilness." The groveling digimon scuttled off in search of her broom.  
"You're actually going out? I'm surprised?" A cool, composed voice asked. Out of the darkness, a small black Gatomon with blood red eyes and silver ring around its tail appeared.  
"Those incompetents don't know what they're doing and at the rate I'm going I'll have to disintegrate every digimon in the world before those blasted digidestined are stopped."  
"That's good I've been itching to get my claws into action," the Gatomon said, scratching the air with her razor sharp claws.  
"Well be expecting lots of action. I too have been itching for battle. Those digidestined won't know what hit them." Witchmon started cackling with glee; the black Gatomon flinched and screwed its features up into that of disgust.  
  
**  
If Iris had thought her indifference with TK was over the next day at school, she was sorely mistaken. Kari had told her, after her returning home, that she had talked to TK about her 'situation.' It became glaringly obvious that Kari's persuasive skills weren't as good as Iris had expected.  
Before class started, Iris sat obediently in her desk, while Kari sat on the desk in front of her and talked airily about a trip to the shopping mall they were apparently going to make after school. It didn't exactly sound riveting. However, Kari insisted she get new clothes.  
"I just don't have a big enough wardrobe to share with you."   
When TK entered the room he skirted around Iris' desk to reach his own (which was, conveniently enough, right next to Iris'). He avoided her eyes at every cost.   
"Morning TK," Kari said happily, obviously oblivious to his nervousness concerning Iris, "I was just talking to Iris about the exchange student."  
Maybe she hadn't been talking about their shopping trip. Or maybe she had already stopped, either way Iris opened a comic book Kari had given her titled "Angel of Love" and tried her best to ignore them.  
"Have you talked to her about it yet?" TK asked  
"Well, it's not exactly a topic you can bring up in the middle of class." Kari replied tapping her fingernails rhythmically on the desk top, "What am I supposed to say to her? 'Hi Melodye, I was wondering if you were a digidestined?' She probably wouldn't understand me if I did."  
"I guess so," TK said thoughtfully, "But how else are we supposed to approach her?"  
"Maybe we should just make friends with her first." Kari suggested, "Well let her into it lightly."  
"That is, if she _is_ a digidestined." TK muttered. Iris frowned, but continued her façade of ignorance.   
Their conversation came to an abrupt stop as the topic walked into the room. She looked nervous, more so than the previous day, and made a beeline to her desk. Kari stopped her.  
"Melodye." She called, stopping the shy red head in her tracks. Melodye turned, Kari waved her over.  
"Good morning," she said softly smiling slightly,   
"Good morning," Kari replied, followed by TK. Iris stayed silent and, hopefully, oblivious.  
"How are you today?" TK asked slowly, as if talking to a child  
"I'm fine thank you." Melodye replied confidently, flashing him a sassy smile. TK smiled back and his cheeks flushed, "I can speak Japanese fluently; my father was Japanese."  
TK nodded once and Kari's smile widened.  
"Have you met Iris?" she asked gesturing to Iris, who looked up quickly and met the red heads eyes.  
A brief moment of constriction swept over her stomach making her wretch. If TK could feel this he wouldn't have doubted her. She forced a smile through the queer feelings in her stomach.  
"Hello," Melodye said politely. Iris nodded and returned to staring at the comic.  
"Melodye," Kari started, breaking the tension Iris felt building up around her, "Iris and I are going to the shopping mall this afternoon, after school. Would you like to come with us?"  
Iris tensed unnoticeably but continued to stare at the book.   
"I'll have to go home first and get some money," Melodye replied thoughtfully, "but my place is on the way."  
"Great, I'll probably bring some other friends as well, if that's okay with you."  
"That's fine."  
The bell rang and Kari and Melodye went to take their seats. Moments later, the teacher arrived and the feeling of constriction in her stomach was gone.  
**  
"You've already met Davis. This is Yolie, Ken and Cody." Kari introduced Melodye to a smiling Yolie, a shy Cody, and an indifferent Ken. Iris had never seen Ken like this before, but the moment she saw him she knew he was the Kaiser. It was unmistakable. It made her want to punch the look on his face. Melodye only smiled politely and said:   
"Hello."   
"Nice to meet you. I'm Yolie," Yolie said, taking Melodye's hand and shaking it. "Where are you from?"  
"San Francisco, in America." Melodye replied. Iris cringed at the memory associated with that place.   
"Well, now that every one is here, how about we get going?" Kari suggested  
"Oh, but I have to get some money first." Melodye said, "I'll have to go back to the apartment."  
"That's okay, we'll go ahead, you can meet us there." Yolie said, taking Cody's arm and walking slowly away from the group.  
"I'll go with them." TK said smiling apologetically, he made eye contact with Ken, who nodded silently and looked back at them.  
"I'll go with them too." Iris scowled at him but he didn't notice. She knew he had changed since his days as the Kaiser but she couldn't ever forget what he had done. So many friends, so many innocent digimon. It was barbaric, unforgivable.   
"Okay then, we'll meet you there."   
It didn't take them long to make it to Melodye's apartment. It was nice and clean, and stirred up memories of Iris' past, her parents. The thought made her flinch; she was supposed to go look for them today. There was really no excuse why she wasn't; Kari had only offered to take her shopping, she could have easily refused. She wasn't about to admit it, not even to herself, but she was scared, petrified, of what she would find. Nothing.   
A muffled scream resounded from Iris' bag. She cringed and then blushed as all eyes turned to her. She had leant against the door frame while she pondered her parents' fate. Big mistake.  
"Did your bag just scream?" Melodye asked suspiciously   
Iris shoved her elbow hard into the side of the bag, there was another muffled cry, and then it went quiet. Davis' eyes were wide and pleading as he stared at her, Kari was silent in her surprise.  
Iris cleared her throat, took her backpack off and set it on the ground  
"No, that was me." She forced a smile, caught a glimpse of her reflection in a mirror on the far wall, and stopped.  
"What's in your bag?" Melodye asked apprehensively.  
"School books" Iris said simply, staring Melodye in the eyes, challenging her to deny her.  
"Can I see?" She asked going for the bag.  
"No" Iris snatched the bag off the ground again, "That's an invasion of my personal space."  
Davis gaped at her behind Melodye's back; Kari groaned silently and covered her face with her hands.  
"Yeah right, give me a look." Melodye tried to grab the bag off Iris but found it was much too heavy for her. She dropped it to the ground with a thud, it cried out in pain and started moving of its own accord.   
Melodye unzipped it and jumped back in surprise as a small snowman digimon jumped out and started rubbing it's back  
"You nearly broke my vertebrae, you heartless…" Snowmon stopped, looked around itself at a shocked Melodye, a disappointed Kari, and an angry Davis and Iris   
"Digimon?" She mumbled.  
"You know about digimon?" Kari asked removing her face from her hands  
"They were on the news a few years ago." Melodye said, her voice airy and her gaze mysteriously glazed  
"Melodye?" All heads turned to a small, round, bird like digimon, much like Poromon, as it flew daintily across the room and landed on Melodye's shoulder  
"I guess it's safe to say you know about digimon." Davis pointed out, blinking owlishly at the tiny, bird like digimon.  
"Yeah, I just didn't know anyone else had them, let alone my new friends." Melodye replied still staring disbelievingly at Snowmon  
"I knew from the first moment I saw her." Iris said, "You're a digidestined aren't you?"  
"A… digidestined?" Melodye asked, finally removing her gaze from Snowmon to stare at Iris, "I don't know about that."  
"But you are." Iris argued, her voice taking on a slightly desperate tone, "I can feel it."  
"But…" Melodye seemed to be having a hard time grasping the situation, "I've never done anything special."  
"Do you have a digivice?" Davis asked, pulling his own out of his backpack  
"No." Melodye replied simply  
"But you have to be." Iris said forcefully, "You have a digimon partner; that means something. And I know you are. I can feel it."  
"But.." Melodye began to protest  
"You are." Iris repeated biting down on the inside of her cheek and challenging Melodye with her eyes  
"How can you tell?" She asked  
"It's a feeling I get whenever I'm around any of these guys, I just know."  
"So you're all digidestined?" Melodye asked  
"That's right; everyone you've met today is a digidestined," Kari replied   
"And so are you." Iris repeated again  
They are? So all of them have digimon, just like Flamon?"  
"Yes." Kari replied, "Every digidestined has a digimon partner  
Her situation finally seemed to register in Melodye's brain, she blinked owlishly a few times, let her gaze wander from Kari, to Davis, to Iris; then asked:  
"So, what does beings a digidestined involve?"   
No one answered at first. Iris wasn't sure herself what it involved. In fact, she hadn't ever really thought about it. She knew digidestined were chosen children destined to save the digital world but how they accomplished that was well beyond her.   
Saving all of them, Kari answered  
"The digidestined are a special group of people who are destined to save the digital world. Surely you've heard of some of us, a few years ago, all of there world digimon were attacking."  
"Yes, yes I've heard about all of that but… what exactly do I have to do?"  
"You don't have to do anything at the moment," Davis answered. "Not until there's a new enemy in the digital world."  
Melodye silently pondered her new position. Iris could read the apprehension on her face. Indeed, being a digidestined wasn't the best job, from what Iris had gathered, and she could completely understand why Melodye wouldn't want to accept the responsibility. Then again, it wasn't really her choice. If she was destined to save the digital world then, by God, she would save it no matter how much she tried to avoid it.  
After a moment of silence, she smiled and nodded  
"Cool," she said, nodding her head slightly.   
Davis sighed in relief, "But one other thing. As you said, a few years ago there was a big thing about digimon in the real world. I know they tried to cover that up, but it was a big hard to forget. Exactly how many digidestined are there?"  
Kari thought for a moment, "I can't remember all of them, but I can tell you some of our closest friends. The first digidestined to go into the digital world were my older brother Tai, myself, and some friends of ours." Melodye gestured for Kari to continue, "other than us there was: TK, Sora, Joe, Matt, Izzy and Mimi. We were the first group to go into the digital world. The second time TK and I were joined by Davis, Yolie and Cody. Apart from us, there was digidestined all around the world. It would take me all day to name them all and we have to meet TK and the others at the mall."  
Melodye laughed and signaled for them to follow her out. Iris silently pondered the complexity of the digidestined story, and at what point she actually entered it. If there was indeed so many digidestined, all around the world, how exactly did they determine there was a new evil (even though she knew it to be true) only because two new ones had been found?   
She brushed the thought aside while they waited for the elevator. It wasn't her place to think of those sorts of things.  
She walked in silence with them to the mall. Davis attempted small conversation with her, but she couldn't compel herself to answer him. After five minuets of useless attempts, he gave up and walked in silence beside her. Kari and Melodye talked like they were old friends. Iris was glad for the lack of attention they gave her; she relished it.   
When they made it to the mall, it was almost dark. They met Yolie, TK, Ken and Cody there. TK and Ken eyed her with interest, especially Ken. She ignored them. She could tell they had been talking about her. Kari filled them all in on their recent discovery. TK stared at her through Kari's explanation as if he expected her to start preening herself and declaring how incredibly amazing she was. She scoffed silently and matched his stare.  
After Kari had finished talking, she took Iris by the arm and led her through various clothing boutiques, stopping at each one for at least half an hour and forcing her to try on numerous outfits. At some point during their shopping escapade, they had lost their male counterparts. That was, except for Cody, who followed silently and obediently.   
When Kari was finally satisfied at the amount of money spent and clothes bought, she declared they leave. Iris couldn't have been happier; she could tell Cody felt the same. Between Kari, Yolie and Melodye they made enough idle banter to compensate for Iris and Cody.   
Before they left, Kari got a call from her brother. Iris could have screamed when she told her he had ordered a meeting in the park. Not only did she have to endure an entire two hours shopping for clothing which she couldn't pay for, but she wasn't able to rest afterwards. Not even the digital world had been so cruel.   
Cody, at least, had been able to weasel his way out, saying if he stayed out any longer his mother would start to get paranoid and he would never live it down. They met up with the other three boys at the park, they were standing around with another large group of people, of whom Iris knew none.   
"Hey guys we're here." Kari yelled running up to the group, Iris and Melodye following close behind.  
"Good, now we can begin." A short, red headed boy declared. He was sitting on a park bench with a lap top perched purposefully on his knees. He didn't look up as he addressed them; he was too intent on his computer to pay them much mind  
"These must be the new digidestined we heard so much about," a tall blond haired boy said, stepping up to shake Iris' hand. His fingers were cold and his shirt untucked but he didn't seemed to worried about his appearance. He carried a guitar case across his back.  
"Iris, Melody," Kari started, "this is Matt; he's TK's older brother."  
Melodye smiled noticeably as Matt took her hand. If it weren't so dark, Iris could have seen her blush better.  
"New digidestined?" A man with long blueish hair asked while fixing his glasses on his face, "That can't be good."  
"You mean there's more trouble in the digiworld?" A woman with short red hair and bright eyes said, biting her thumb nail pensively.  
"Witchmon," Davis said seriously. He wasn't looking at any of them but rather stared out into the darkness of the park.  
"Yes, I got an email form Gennai the other day." the red head with the laptop said, he raised his eyes from lap top and surveyed the group. His eyes lingered on Iris.  
"Gennai?" she asked softly, disbelievingly. It couldn't be the same Gennai, could it?  
"You know him?" Matt asked  
"Yes, he aided me on many occasions," she replied biting down on her bottom lip  
"You must be Iris," the red head started at length, "he mentioned you."  
"He knew all along didn't he?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.  
She had no doubt in her mind Gennai had known her power. The old man kept secrets like old magazines. Why hadn't he told her earlier though, why had he procrastinated until this time? What could he have gained? And why had he never implored her to reveal her knowledge about the digidestined. Surely he must have known of her intelligence; she wasn't ignorant.  
"You know of this Witchmon, don't you?" the red head asked. She raised her eyes to his; they looked like black holes against his porcelain skin.  
"Yes," Iris replied, "I have heard of her."   
He nodded and returned his gaze to the lap top  
"What do you know about her?" A boy with wild brown hair, whom Iris knew as Kari's older brother, asked.  
"She hypnotizes her prey into doing her bidding. They become her slaves until they are destroyed. I don't know of any way, as of yet, to reverse the spell."  
The former Kaiser shivered and turned his face away to the darkness. Iris frownedl she was tempted to mention the Kaiser, but the way Ken looked convinced her otherwise.  
"So, I'm guessing you newest digidestined are going to have to take care of the problem?" The long blue haired man said  
"It's been such a long time since we last went into the digital world." The red headed woman said, "I sometimes wish we had never come back."  
"What are you talking about Sora?" Matt said. "When we were there, all you could think about was coming back. You wouldn't want to meet up with Apocalymon again would you?"   
Sora scowled at him, "I didn't mean like that."  
The red head interrupted, "I have a map of the digital world on the screen. If we can locate Witchmon's base, we could simply send them in and hopefully catch her by surprise." He locked eyes with Iris again, and she shook her head softly  
"It's not as simple as that, I know the digital world back to front and I haven't heard any rumors of a base. She is as much of an enigma to the inhabitants of the digital world as to you and me."  
"So you've heard nothing? No clues?"   
Iris smiled, "I'm not completely ignorant. As I said, I know the digital world back to front. There is a place she may be hiding, but I'm not completely sure. There are some caves on the Northern island, old shrines to forgotten gods. There are runes there which I'm positive Gennai could translate. I'm pretty sure they lead to an underground cavern of some sort, or to a labyrinth. There's a chance she might be hiding in there."   
"Can you locate the ruins on this map?" He asked and gestured for her to look at the map on the screen.  
She obliged and pointed out the position on the north island, near the polar caps, where she knew the cave lay hidden amongst the glaciers and ruins. He nodded and began tapping away at the keyboard. In a few minuets, the caves were brought up on the screen, just as she remembered them.  
"I'll email Gennai and see what he can do about those ruins."   
Iris nodded and glanced over at Davis. Like the rest of the digidestined groups (apart from Ken, who was looking at the computer screen a well), he was involved in a reminiscing conversation about their first travels to the digital world. Melodye listened in silent amusement.   
"Oh, and by the way," the red head started carefully closing the lap top lid and standing, "my name is Koushirou Izumi, you can call me Izzy." He held his hand out and Iris took it, smiling slightly  
"Iris." She said softly, Izzy smiled.  
A shiver ran suddenly down her spine and a feeling of foreboding and dead washed over her. She didn't notice Snowmon had climbed out of her backpack until she whispered into her ear.  
"In the tree."   
Iris' gaze flicked to a nearby tree, in which a small silhouette of a black cat sat. Before the cat scrambled away, Iris saw a flash of red. She followed it's quick, lithe movements with her eyes and once it landed on the top of a nearby building, next to another imposing shadow, her instincts took over.   
In a flash of bright light a huge ball of fire was heading strait for her. She let out a warning yell, grabbed Izzy by the shoulders and pulled him to the ground. She heard the rest of the group let out various yells as the great fireball passed over them in an awesome wave of heat.   
The fireball slammed into the nearby tree, sending charred bits of wood and leaves raining down on them. Iris hastily rolled off Izzy and turned her attention back to the shadows. She had no doubt in her mind who one of them was.   
"I'll get you yet digidestined!" Witchmon's voice echoed throughout the park. In silent shock, they watched as a hole opened up in the atmosphere and the two shadows disappeared into it.   
"That was her." Davis pointed out, blinking owlishly at the place where the atmosphere had parted to allow their escape.  
Immediately the group broke out into a loud and quite obscene account of what had just occurred. Izzy hurriedly scrambled to his feet and, blushing furiously, offered Iris a hand.  
"Thank you, "he said. Iris shook her head in dismissal.   
"There is no way we can let her get away with that." Kari's elder brother commented, punching the air  
"I just hope you guys know what you're getting yourself into." The blue haired boy, whose name still remained anonymous, said   
"Not to worry," Davis started, "We can take anything on, isn't that right guys."   
Yolie and Kari both nodded, their faces set in determination. Ken smiled and TK mumbled "Yeah," under his breath. Melodye looked like she had seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide and locked on the sky just above the nearest building.  
They really didn't know what they were getting themselves into, did they? Sure, TK, Davis, Kari, Yolie and Ken had all been in there before, they'd experienced it, but how much did they really know? They hadn't spent year after year somehow managing to scrape through existence while the harsh and unpredictable digital world did everything in its power to stop them. They had only tasted the destructive nature that the digital world could dish up.  
And Melodye, not once had she seen the inexorable torrential downpours that came and went as fast as lightning. She had never scaled the sands of the MX560 desert in search of things she didn't even know she wanted to find. She hadn't chased her prey through the knotted, twisted veins of the Gene forest.   
How could she prepare herself for something she knew nothing about? Nothing was expected in the digital world; nothing could be predicted or guessed. It could change from the lush, peaceful valleys and villages of the love preserving Tanemon to the never ending battle between Tyrannomon and Greymon or the fierce attempt of genocide the Ogremon tribe commit on the Unimon. There were no choices in the matter, you have to take it as it comes, and Iris knew it came at you harder than you could ever expect.   
If she was sure about one thing, it was they had no idea of what they were getting themselves into.


	4. Escape from Insanity

Chapter 4: Escape from Insanity

Chapter 4: Escape from Insanity

The park was probably the most beautiful thing Iris had ever seen. Despite the fact she had traveled around the digiworld so many times she had lost count, despite the fact she had seen things most humans would never even dream of. She had seen ruins from civilizations that had lived before time itself, she sat by and watched as volcanoes spewed out molten lava, she had lay down in the snow and stared up at as aurora borealis spread it's light across the sky. The sense of peace she felt when she walked through the park at twilight couldn't be compared. The fact that when she looked up and saw the buildings of Tokyo looming over the Sakura trees made her feel at ease. 

"Hey Iris…" Davis' voice pulled her out of her daydream and back into reality, "How did you know witchmon was there?" Iris studied Davis' eyes carefully. Even though he tried to hide it she could tell he was hurting, what from she couldn't tell, she just knew that something was troubling him. 

"When you spend half your life in the digiworld you learn to hone your senses." She replied carefully.

They fell into silence again. Iris would occasionally glance over at Davis who was obviously lost in thought. Davis had called her earlier that afternoon and asked her to meet him at the park, he had said he wanted to 'talk'.

"So what did you want to talk about?" She asked trying to break the silence.

Davis glanced at her then back down at his feet, he let out an exhausted sigh. 

"Um I was…" he trailed off into an awkward silence. 

"You were…" She prodded.

"You know what it's funny I can't think what I asked you out here for." He said laughing nervously. Iris stared at him suspiciously, then shook her head and stared at her feet. 

"Actually I do remember what I wanted to say to you but I don't think it has any relevance anymore."

"Well what was it anyway, I'm intrigued." They stopped walking and she sat down on a nearby bench.

"Well I wanted to ask you if… umm…when your birthday is."

"My birthday? Why do you want to know?"

"I-I can't tell you." He said mysteriously.

"It's on the twenty third of May." 

"Oh well now that I got that off my shoulders, I better be going." He started to walk off.

"Hey wait! She yelled standing up, "Aren't you gonna walk me home?"

"Uh yeah I was just going to do that." He said turning around and running back to her, "well lets go."

**

"So how do you feel Melodye?" Flamon asked jumping onto Melodye's stomach.

"About what?" She pretended not to know what flamon was talking about, but she knew full well. Finding others like herself was the best thing that could have happened to her, most her life she had to hide that fact she was, what the others called a 'digidestined'. She had never really fit in with the other kids at school, they knew she was different, and so did she but being able to fit in with a group like her was almost moving. The only bad part was the fact that she was supposed to save the digiworld. She had Yolie fill her in on the details, she had told her that the digidestined were a group of people who were destined to save the digiworld, and consequently earth as well. Apparently the two were linked and travel between them was relatively easy. She wasn't really sure how the others got to the digiworld, but they talked as if they went there every weekend. Maybe it was something to do with those little gadgets they carried with them, what had she called them? 'Digivices'. Anyway having to save the digiworld didn't really sit well with her, because she knew they would just end up in a bunch of pointless fighting, and people would get hurt. 

"Well you know about finding the digidestined and stuff."

"I gotta admit it's pretty good, finally finding some people I can relate to."

"Yeah you've always been so lonely."

"That's not true, I've had you."

**

"Damn those digidestined!" Witchmon bellowed as she strode through the halls of her castle, "You know what Gatomon I'm almost starting to believe those rumors about the digidestined."

"Now, now mistress you don't really mean that do you?"

"…I'm not sure gatomon."

"Mistress you didn't even really try back there you can't truly judge them on that one little incident."

"You're right Gatomon I'm not done yet."

"That's the spirit your evilness, that group of children doesn't scare me, and it certainly shouldn't scare you."

"Of course not, but we're going to need a plan to defeat them."

"Ah of course, well from the information I've received, these digidestined usually work best in packs." The black Gatomon started, and evil grin plastered on her face.

"So if we break them up then they'll be useless." Witchmon finished.

"Then well capture them and make the others watch while we torture them one by one, as I've always said, revenge is a dish that can be eaten cold" Witchmon grinned at the thought.

"That's the most perfect plan I've ever heard, I've been itching to use those torture tools in the dungeon."

"Well no worries, my plan can not fail." 

**

"Melodye you ready for the digiworld?" Yolie asked as they walked up to the schools computer room.

"I-I think so, what's it like?" 

"I think it's better to judge that by yourself."

"Well guys here we are, are you all ready?" Davis asked opening the door to the computer room. The group walked in, in silence. As soon one of them neared the first computer a strange screen came up. The computer started to glow with a white light and two colored beams of light shot out from it. One beam went straight to Melodye and the other flew out of the room. 

"Uh where'd the other one go?" Davis asked walking to the door.

"Ow what the hell?" A cry was heard from out in the hallway.

"I knew it." Iris mumbled.

"Knew what?" Cody asked walking over to join Davis

"I sensed another digidestined." She ran out the door and disappeared in the halls.

"Wait Iris!" Davis yelled and ran after her. The rest of the group followed suit. They found Iris standing over a golden hared boy.

"Are you okay?" She asked helping him up.

"I'm fine." He said snatching his hand away from hers and wiping it on his jeans. "But what the hell is this?" He held up and orange digivice to the group.

"You're a digidestined?" TK asked moving closer to him to get a better look.

"What the hell are you talking about?" the kid backed away and looked suspiciously at them and their digimon.

"You've got a digivice just like mine." Melodye held up her own aqua digivice for him to see.

"Yeah so?" He looked over his digivice once more, "what does this thing like do magical tricks or something?"

"No but it allows pass into the digiworld." Ken said knowingly, "We've all got one, and we are all digidestined." Everyone in the group pulled out their digivices, "So therefor you must also be a destined." 

"And what do you destined do, collect bottle caps or something?"

"No we are destined to save the digiworld from the evil that plagues it." Kari explained.

"Yeah right, you guys are crazy." The kid tossed his digivice into a nearby bin and walked off. 

Davis ran over and grabbed the digivice out of the bin, his face red with anger.

"You don't just throw these things away like an old toy!" He yelled and threw the digivice at the kid's head. It hit him right in the back of the head and sent him sprawling to the ground. He instantly got up and yelled to Davis.

"What the hell'd you do that for you maniac, I could have been hurt!"

"That was the point you knave!" Davis yelled back.

"Stop it!" Iris yelled, the two boys immediately ceased their yelling. Iris walked over to the digivice that lay on the ground and picked it up. She handed it to the boy, who reluctantly took it.

"You obviously got this for a reason, the digiworld has chosen you to be one of the digidestined weather you like it or not. Now I know we got off to a bad start…"

"A bad start?" The boy yelled backing away from Iris, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about. You crazy people send some cursed gadget to smash me in the head and then start yelling at me." he took tome to glance at Davis, "And you think it's a 'bad start' that's an understatement"

"Alright why don't we start again. My names Iris, what's yours?"

"Clive." The boy replied.

"Hello Clive, these are my friends, "Iris motioned to the group behind her, "Yolie, Cody, Kari, TK, Ken and Davis. " Clive obviously glared at Davis.

"I know this is all confusing for you, I know its all knew to me as well. Let me try to explain. The digidestined are a group of people who are sent to reap the digiworld of all its evils. You have been chosen to take part in this, it is your fate to walk the same pat as us."

"This is too much," The boy sighed, "What the hell is the digiworld?"

"It's a parallel universe, home to the digimon."

"And what's a digimon."

"We're digimon, Oopamon said from Yolie's arms. The boy seemed taken back by the talking toy. 

"I must be dreaming, yeah this is all a dream." Clive assured himself

"Believe me this is no dream, more like a nightmare." Davis said.

"Surly…" The boy agreed, "Alright what do you want me to do?"

"Come with us, we were just about to go to the digiworld." TK said

"Fine whatever, I'm bound to wake up soon enough." 

"But you're not…" Davis started but was cut off by Kari,

"Don't Davis."

The nine of them made their way down the halls to the computer room. Once again the digiport came up on the screen. All of them pulled out their digivices and Davis yelled, 

"Digiport open!"

They all underwent the downloading process and they fell out in a cavern, much like the one Davis had found Iris in, just without the pool.

"This is the digiworld?" Clive asked looking around the cave, "Doesn't look very special to me. Why are we saving it again?"

"Because it is directly linked to the real word, so if one falls the other does too." Ken explained.

"Oh…" Clive looked around in disgust, how and why would he 'save' this place? Was he supposed to use the little gadget that hit him in the head? He pulled his digivice out again and looked at it carefully, it didn't look very special. He looked up to try an spot one of the other kids but all he saw was white, he backed away from whatever it. Sitting about thirty centimeters from his face was a small white ghost. Clive screamed and backed away from it.

"Clive!" The thing yelled coming closer as if to hug him. He let out another scream and ran behind TK.

"Get it away from me!" He hollered.

TK stared at Clive in confusion then looked up to see what he was hiding from. A small cute ghost digimon floated in front of him.

"Clive?" It asked looking hurt

"Get it away from me." Clive whimpered gripping onto TK's shirt.

"What are you scared of Clive? It's just a harmless digimon." TK said trying to pry Clive off his shirt. Clive looked up at him, his eyes were filled with fear,

"Digimon?" He asked. 

He released his grip on TK's shirt and composed himself. The digimon's eyes lit up and it floated closer to Clive.

"I've been waiting so long for you to come Clive, and when the digivices flew off I knew you were coming and I was so excited…" The little ghost rattle on for a moment. Realizing the way Clive was staring at her she cocked her head to one side and questioned, "Clive?"

"What… the hell is this thing?" He asked, a smirk tugging at his lips.

"Clive…I'm your digimon." The little digimon said, hurt obvious in its voice.

"Wraithmon," Yolie started reading off her D-terminal, "The ghost digimon, digivolves to Bakemon, watch out for her scary face attack, it'll scare your pants off."

"Wraithmon?" Clive asked, circling the ghost.

"I thought Bakemon were virus digimon." Cody said opening up his D-terminal and reading the information on Bakemon.

"Oh great, lemme guess I get the evil one so I'm gonna turn evil or something?" Clive asked poking Wraithmon, his finger merely went through her as if she weren't there.

"That's not true," Wraithmon said looking Clive in the eye, "I'm not bad, I swear."

Clive studied her some more before turning to look at the group's digimon.

"So what do these things do? Do they dance and sing or just sit there and look ugly?" There were a few mumbled protests from the digimon but patamon spoke up,

"We are the digidestined faithful protectors, we are to watch over our human and make sure they are okay. That is a digimon's duty."

Clive glanced at wraithmon once more then shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not," He said turning to wraithmon. She smiled brightly and hugged him.

"Thank you so much Clive we're gonna be the bestest of friends, I've got so much to tell you!" 

"Whatever," He mumbled.

"Well now that that's over and done with can we get on with the show?" Davis asked impatiently.

"Yeah let's get out of this smelly cave before I choke." Cody agreed.

The group made their way through the cavern. 

Yolie nearly choked, the air was thick and it clogged her nose and throat, not to mention it smelt terrible, like old gym socks and mothballs. 

They left the cavern they were in and were led through a network of dank dark caves. This was probably the worst thing she had ever experienced, they would walk through one narrow hall like cave and end up in front of two or three more. Wraithmon would float in front of each one, thinking. She would each time pick the worst possible cave. Either it was too small and cramped, and the only person who could walk through it comfortably was Cody. Or the ground was littered with stalagmites and because it was so dark she would trip on them and badly skin her knees and hands or she would just plain run into them. 

Sometimes the air would get so thick and muggy she couldn't breath, small droplets of water would instantly stick to her but that wasn't any relief, she would get so hot she felt she was about to faint. 

Luckily for them the cave wasn't that big, after about the fourth turn off the air started to lighten and the smell got less overpowering, the end was in sight. When they finally made it out everyone was so relieved, they were blessing whatever gods ruled the digiworld for their release from the horrible catacombs. She glanced over at Wraithmon, she obviously had no idea what everyone was so happy about, but then again, she was a ghost, she didn't fully understand how terrible it felt to be hot and cramped in a smelly cave.

"Well where do we go now?" Yolie asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"Well Wraithmon what have you heard of Witchmon?" TK inquired.

"Who?" Wraithmon cocked her head to the side and stared at Clive questioningly. Clive just shrugged his shoulders,

"I'm new to this too."

"You know the evil digimon that's been terrorizing the Digiworld?"

"There's someone terrorizing the digiworld?" She asked, her eyes getting big with anger, "Who? Where are they? Lemme at em'!" She flew around the group throwing punches in the air. Everyone looked at each other questioningly.

"Um wraithmon where have you been for the last couple of months?" Polarmon asked hesitantly.

"Why I've been watching over the digivices, I have been ever since I was a baby, I knew that the day they went flying my master would come and we'd…" She trailed off into silence.

"We'd…" Clive prodded.

"Well I never really thought about what we'd do I was concentrating on guarding the digivices." 

"You spent your whole life guarding one digivice?" Cody asked in shock

"Two." She said knowingly

"Who's was the other one?" Clive asked.

"How should I know, I just knew if they got into the wrong hands then I'd be in trouble." 

"Did it look like this?" Melodye asked pulling out her digivice and waving it in front of wraithmon.

"Yeah! That's it! You should be grateful I took care of it so well." Wraithmon said proudly.

"What were you protecting it from?" Clive asked

"Well…" She looked down at the ground embarrassed, "Well I don't know, nothing really came that far into the caves, but if they had I woulda' beat em' up good!" She threw a few more punches in the air, then looked around at the confused kids. She stopped in mid punch and blushed, if that was at all possible for a ghost. 

"Umm right…" The group trailed off into silence.

"So you know nothing about witchmon?" Ken asked scratching the back of his head.

"Don't worry, I know all about her." Polarmon said walking into the middle of the group, "Bad news travels fast."

"Do you know where her hide out is?" Davis asked hopefully, hoping to get some action in before the day ended.

"Well not exactly…" Polarmon replied, Davis face fell, "But I've seen what she's done, if you'd like me to show you, there's a village not far from here…"

"Witchmon destroyed it." Iris finished

"Was there any survivors?" Ken asked, concerned for the digimon.

"I don't know. There was nobody there when we got there, it was just a pile of rubble."

"We might as well check it out." Yolie said, "There's no harm in that, right?"

There was a chorus of mumbles from the group, 

"Well lead us the way." Davis piped up pushing Iris to the front of the group and waiting for her to start leading them.

"You sure you're all ready for this?" She asked looking at Cody particularly.

"I'm fine." Cody mumbled in his raspy voice.

"Alright…" Iris took the lead and walked the group straight into the forest that lay outside the cave.

It seemed to Clive they'd been walking for hours. He'd never been a big fan of hiking sure if he was hiking through a park or well paved area he'd be fine but the woods was no place for a well bread child like himself. His mother was a well-respected businesswoman, and his father, a trader. He'd always been offered the finest things in life. Some would say he'd grown up with a silver spoon in his mouth or however the saying went, and it was true. How he ended up hiking through the woods with a bunch of beggars and mutated animals was beyond him. He was absolutely sure he was dreaming, nothing this absurd happened in real life. He glanced a Davis, who was at the front of the group, holding a conversation with the one they called Iris. How could one person be so disrespectful? It disgusted him, the way he lacked even the most simple manners appalled Clive. He had grown up being taught to respect everyone, even if they were animals like him. Clive ignored it though, even though this seemed way too real to be a dream, it had to be. He rubbed the spot on the back of his head where he'd been hit twice with his digivice. It hurt, a lot, and it was so vivid as well, but he convinced himself it was all a dream.

"Whatcha thinkin bout Clive?" Wraithmon said in her slack tongue.

"I'm thinking about how vivid this dream is, I've never felt pain in one of my dreams before." 

"Dream?" She asked, cocking her head to one side, like animals did when they were confused, "What are you talking about Clive, this isn't a dream."

"How am I supposed to believe that? Here I am trekking through some uncharted forest, like a feral cat or something, with a bunch of dirty beggars, and I'm talking to a ghost. I swear I'm never eating cheese before I go to sleep, even though I don't remember ever going to sleep…" He trailed off into thought again.

"Clive, your not dreaming, I'm real, and so is the digiworld, and your friends aren't beggars." Wraithmon said, floating backwards in front of Clive so she could look into his eyes.

"Of course it's a dream!" He yelled exasperated, "You don't really expect me to believe any of this is real do you?" Wraithmon looked hurt by this, she seemed to disappear, but she then reappeared next to Clive. He sort of felt guilty for hurting her feelings. What was he thinking, it doesn't really matter this is all just a dream.

"Poor guy, he probably thinks he's going insane." TK said turning around to look at Clive.

"Well do you remember how you felt when you first came into the digiworld?" Kari asked him poking him in the arm.

"Well not really, I was only like eight when I first came in, I thought it was pretty cool."

"I guess your right, it must be really hard for him."

"But it's Melodye's first time in the digiworld, and she doesn't seem to mind." TK pointed out.

"Yeah but she had a digimon to start off with, so it wouldn't be as bad."

"Hmm I remember Joe acted almost the same when we first came in, he was so scared of Gomamon he almost wet his pants." TK laughed at the memory.

"That's not nice TK." Kari said, but she couldn't help but laugh at the mental image she had of Joe frantically trying to get away from cute little Gomamon.

"How did you feel when you first came into the digiworld?" TK asked more seriously.

"Well I wasn't very indifferent to it, I remembered when I first saw digimon so I wasn't very creeped out, just from the fact I was away from my mother."

"Hey you know how every digidestined saw a digimon when they were younger, that's how they became digidestined?" 

"Yeah…"

"Well wouldn't Clive remember his encounter with a digimon?" Kari thought long and hard about this. It was a very long time ago when she first saw a digimon so it was easy to understand if he just forgot, or thought it was a dream. 

Then there was that incident in Tokyo when they first went to the digiworld, where the whole country was overrun by digimon. How could he forget something like that? Even if he happened to be in another country at the time, it was happening all around the world from what she could gather. Why was it he seemed to never have seen a digimon before? 

She glanced over her shoulder at him, he seemed to be having a lot of trouble keeping up with the group. He obviously wasn't very fit. It was also ver obvious he had been brought up in a fairly rich household. The clothes that he wore and the overall way he held himself just gave it away. 

She didn't know very much about him, of course she didn't she only met him, but why hadn't she seen him before? And why was he in the school to start off with, and on the weekend? These were all questions she would have to find out. Just not right now.

"So how far away is this village?" Davis asked walking next to Iris, he couldn't stand it when other people took the lead, but in this case it was necessary.

"It's not too far, it should take another five, ten minuets."

"Of course it's a dream!" They heard Clive yell from the back of the group.

Davis and Iris both looked at each other amused.

"That was weird." Davis said, Iris giggled at this. She looked over her shoulder at the new member to their group. He didn't look very well, he lagged behind the rest of the group, and his face was red from exhaustion. It was obvious just by looking at him his parents were rich. 

"Hey Iris how many years did you say you were in the digiworld for?" davis asked, breaking her chain of thought.

"Eight." She replied 

"That means you would have been here when we came in here foe the first time. Right?"

"Well yeah I was…"

"Then why didn't we see you?"

"I was on the other side of the digiworld when you guys came, I heard about the digiemperor and the prophet of the digidestined but by the time I made to where you guys had been it was all over. I missed my only chance of getting back to the real world."

"How big is the digiworld?"

"How big is the real world?" Iris asked in reply

"You know it's not polite to answer a question with a question." Davis replied haughtily.

Iris punched him hard in the arm.

"It's also rude to act superior to someone." She said knowingly.

He punched her back lightly.

"Ooowww…" She whined grabbing the spot on her arm as if it had been shot, "It's also rude to hit girls." 

"You think that was a hit? "He asked pulling his had back ready to hit her. He slowly brought his had over and tapped her on the shoulder. She screamed in pain and grabbed onto her arm again.

"Aiyaahh you really, really hurt me." She said playfully.

"Oh gosh I'm sorry," he pulled her hand away and looked carefully at the spot he had tapped her, "Yep there's gonna be a bruise there. You want me to kiss it better?" He made kissy faces at her arm. She pulled away from him roughly.

"Uh no I'll be alright." She kept her eyes locked forward, but couldn't brush off the feeling he was watching her. She glanced his way and found him smiling and staring at her funny, as soon as she looked though he turned away and pretended to be looking at the trees. She purposely ran into him, 

"Quit looking at me funny." She said, now walking shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Wha… I have no idea what you're talking about." He said looking at her confused. She growled in her throat but couldn't stop a smile from creeping up to her lips.

"Hey Iris," Polarmon interrupted their conversation, "I hate to interrupt you guys cause you look so cute but we're here."

"What do you mean we look cute?" She half yelled at her digimon.

"Well you two seemed to be having such fun…" She trailed off, glancing at Davis who was blushing a bright crimson, "Anyway that's not the point, we're here now." She motioned towards the remains of a town that lay just below the hill they were standing on.

Clive walked up to the front of the group, 

"Are we there yet…" His sentence was cut short when he saw the charred remains of what once seemed to be a village. 

Pictures of a village, not unlike this one, burning to the ground, flashed across his vision. Flames and smoke ran across his sight, blurring his eyes. The thing was it seemed so real, he could smell burning wood, and flesh, he could feel the heat of the flames on his skin. Of all the scenes that flashed before his eyes one stood out the most. A women was laying under a huge piece of lumber, calling his name, he tried to save her, even to call out to her, but he was frozen. He tried to move his arms but they wouldn't respond. All he could do was watch on as the women died before his eyes.

"Clive you okay?" Yolie's voice broke him out of his daze, he looked around himself, at the trees that loomed over him, but he avoided looking at the village.

"Yeah I just lost it for a moment there, I'm fine." He followed her down the hill to join the rest of the group who were already in the ruins. He stopped before he entered, the picture of that lady lying under a huge piece of wood was still fresh in his mind.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked waiting for him at the entrance of the town.

"No, I-I think I'll just wait out here, I got a bit of a headache." 

She looked at him suspiciously for a moment then shrugged.

"Oh well, just stay where you are." She ordered him.

"Whatever." He mumbled as he sat down on the soft grass. 

"What's the matter Clive?" Wraithmon asked floating down so she was eye level with him.

"Nothing, you wouldn't understand." He said rubbing his temple to relieve the pain in his head.

"I could try to understand." She said floating around him.

"I said you wouldn't understand, " He scalded, "I-I just need to be alone." 

Wraithmon easily got the message and disappeared before he yelled at her anymore.

"I'm here if you need me." Her voice lingered where she had just been. 

Clive sighed and flopped down on his back.

"This is terrible!" Gatomon said walking through the ruins of the once peaceful village.

"I know, what kind of heartless evil would do something like this?" Patamon said flying just above Gatomon.

Wormmon crawled over to the two.

"Now I know…" He said, crawling over to a small singed lump on the ground, "Now I know the pain that these digimon felt when Ken…" He picked up the lump and dusted it off with his claws. He revealed a small pumpkinmon doll, his eyes started to fill up with tears.

"Wormmon, you know it wasn't his fault." Hawkmon said walking over to comfort the little worm.

"I know it's just, now I couldn't picture Ken doing anything like that." He held the doll out to Gatomon who took it and looked it over.

"This must've been a pumpkinmon village." She inspected the doll more carefully and found some crude writing under its dress. '_Kayla'. Gatomon's eyes involuntarily filled up with tears, stinging her eyes. She quickly wiped them away and held the doll to her chest._

"I can't bear to think what happened to this girl." She said, her tears now rolling down her cheeks.

"There's no use crying Gatomon, " Veemon said laying his hand on her shoulder, and glancing at the doll, "There's only one thing we can do now." 

"…Fight." Armadillomon finished for him.

"There's no way we're gonna let this happen again." Flamon bounced over to the group.

"She's right. Wraithmon appeared next to Flamon, "We all need to fight to our best abilities."

"For all the digimon who have suffered from the hand of evil." Polarmon put her paw out in front of her.

Gatomon glanced down at the dirty doll. She looked up at Polarmon, determination in her eyes.

"For the digimon." She said putting her paw on top of Polarmon's. The other digimon followed each placing a paw, claw, wing or hand on top of the others.

"We will fight for justice." Hawkmon stated. 

"For justice," They all said at once, throwing their hands in the air.

"I-I can't believe someone would do something like this…" Melodye climbed over the ruins of another hut. 

"It's awful…" Cody added

"How?" Melodye asked herself, "How, why, why would somebody…?" She walked over next to Cody.

"I don't know…" They stood staring in amazement at the destroyed houses.

"I wonder if there was any survivors…" Cody glance around the town.

He caught sight of a small graveyard just out side the village. He pulled on Melodye's sleeve, and motioned for her to follow him.

They made there way over to the graveyard in silence. It consisted ofabout twenty or so crudely made crosses, the lumber used was evidently taken from the rubble of houses that used to occupy the village. Across some of them, names were written messily, obviously in haste.

"This is so sad." Melodye said inspecting one of the crosses. Across it was written in black ink _'Manny'._

Cody called the rest of the group over to the graveyard. 

"I-I just don't understand…" Kari said, staring at a small cross. She knelt down beside it and whispered a prayer. TK helped her up, and held onto her hand tightly.

"Now I know…" Ken said, tears building up in the corner of his eyes, "How could I do something like this?" He knelt down next to a cross and cupped his head in his hands. Yolie was immediately at his side,

"Ken you didn't do this," She tried her best to comfort him, but her efforts were in vain. He roughly pulled away from Yolie and looked up at her accusingly.

"You know what I'm talking about!" He yelled at her, tears spilling down his cheeks, "So many, I hurt so many digimon… how could I?"

"Don't cry Ken." Wormmon said crawling up next to Ken, "I knew all along that you didn't really want to hurt those digimon, I knew all along that you were the kindest soul I'd ever meet." He nudged Ken's arm, "You were mislead, you were hurt…"

"I know, I know all that, but how many digimon suffered? How many lives did I take in my selfishness?" He stood up, avoiding eye contact with the other digidestined, "I have to be alone," He said coldly.

"No Ken let us help you." Kari pleaded grabbing Ken's arm, "Please." 

He looked her straight in the eye, she could see the hurt and anguish he felt in his bright blue eyes. 

"You wouldn't understand." He mumbled. He pulled away from Kari and walked away from the town.

"Ken wait!" Wormmon yelled, crawling after him as fast as his little legs could carry him.

"Poor Ken…" Yolie watched his back as he disappeared over a grassy knoll that lay jut outside the town.

"What happened to him?" Melodye asked Cody softly.

"It's a long story." Was al Cody said in return.

'Why' Ken asked himself, 'why did I do it? Was it because I was hurt, what did I think I would accomplish? I just can't believe I could do something like this, I never wanted to hurt anyone. I just, I blamed myself, but it wasn't a reason to go and hurt so many digimon, it wasn't a reason to…Kill.' Ken stumbled over his feet trying to walk. He felt weak in the knees, and his legs felt like they were made out of lead. He tripped over and landed hard on his hands and knees. He knelt there crying to the heavens for what seemed like an eternity, pleading whatever gods watched over him to forgive. How could he ask for forgiveness when he couldn't even forgive himself? How was he ever going to repent? How was he ever going to wash his hands clean of the blood that stained them? It wasn't just enough to say he was sorry, that wasn't going to bring back the thousands of digimon that were killed or hurt during his reign of terror. What was he to do? The only thing that came to his mind was to destroy what had plagued this land. 

He stared at his hands in horror. They were covered with blood, the blood of the innocent. He frantically wiped his hands on the grass, but it didn't help. Blood was thick on his hands. 

"Can any white rain from the heavens wash the blood of the innocent off my hands?" He screamed to the heavens. 

He rubbed his hands on his pants, trying his best to wipe off the blood, to release himself from his own accusations. He looked down at his pants, they too were covered in blood. He looked himself over, his whole body was dripping with blood, none of it being his own. He could taste in his mouth, the strong metallic flavor that came with blood. He spat on the grass, and gasped at what he saw. His mouth was filled with blood, he could taste it, smell it, feel it all over his body. 

He screamed, wiping his tongue off with his shirt, but it didn't help he could still taste the salty tang, all over him. He cupped his head in his hands, trying to block out the sight, but it was in vain. He could feel it dripping from his hair and clothes, running down his bare arms to form a puddle around his knees. He opened his eyes and stared up to the heavens. 

"I'm sorry…" He whispered, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry." He jumped up to his feet yelling up at the sky, "I'm sorry!"

"That's not going to help Ken." Ken glared down at Wormmon.

"What would you know?" He spat accusingly at Wormmon, "You see these hand? Do you Wormmon?" He shoved his hands in Wormmon's face.

"I see them Ken, they look like hands." Wormmon backed away from Ken.

"They're covered in blood, stained with the blood of the innocent." He stared down at his hands in disgust, "How many lives did these hands take?" 

"It doesn't matter Ken." 

"Yes it does, of course it does! How can I go on knowing I was the cause of so much pain?"

"Ken I know this is hard for you…" Wormmon was cut off by Ken's frantic shouting.

"Hard for me? What would you know? How would you know what I'm feeling?"

"I don't, I never said I did." Wormmon stared up at Ken defiantly, "Just listen to me, I know its hard for you to forget, but there's only one thing you can do. You know and I know that if we don't fight, more unsuspecting digimon will suffer, more innocents will die."

Ken stared down at Wormmon,

"What do you want me to do? You want me to just forget what I did?"

"I didn't say that, I just said seek forgiveness by helping those in need. Ken I've known you for as long as I can remember, to me you've always been the most kind and loving soul I've ever known, and I know for a fact you would do anything for someone in need. So Ken please, you saw what happened to that village back there. If we don't do something about it Witchmon will keep destroying everything in her path."

Ken's sobbing softened, as he studied Wormmon's face. Tears still ran down his cheeks, but he seemed to stop crying.

"You're right, I must repent." Ken bent down and picked up Wormmon, holding him close.

"I knew I'd find you again Ken." Ken hugged Wormmon close, tears trickling down his cheeks.

"Nooo!" A scream came from down in the village. It was Yolie he could tell.

"No…" Ken whispered. He took off towards the village, Wormmon in tow.


	5. Hero

Chapter 5: Hero

Chapter 5: Hero

What does it mean? Clive lay on the soft green grass, staring up at the cloudless blue sky. How come I freaked out before, what was it all about? Who was that woman? The vision flashed across his eyes again, it sent a shiver down his spine. It looked so real, it must have some sort of meaning. It felt so real, the fire, the smoke. What was happening to him? He had been sent to some 'alternate universe' with a talking ghost, and he was seeing visions of burning villages. Despite the amount of times he tried to tell himself it was a dream, he was only fooling himself. This had to be real, he was sure it was real, he felt pain. Usually in his dreams he couldn't feel pain, and things weren't so vivid. 

He plucked a blade of grass and twirled it around in his fingers, it was real, just like everything else. Why did the gods do this to him? They sure must have something against him, playing with his life so. It wasn't fair, his life had just been one bad thing after another, one disappointment after the other. Sometimes he just felt like breaking down and crying, but he couldn't do that, that would just truly show how weak he was. 

Clive was pulled from his thoughts by a deafening scream, followed by a huge explosion. He was on his feet immediately.

"What the hell was that?" He stared at the broken village. 

Smoke poured from the center of the town, he could already smell it. Images flashed across his vision once again. This time the charred rubble of a village, smoke still drifting up from it. The lumps of wood that had once held the houses together were still red from their fight with the fire that had consumed them. 

Clive roughly shook his head, keeping his sight locked on the spot where the smoke was coming from. 

A bright light erupted from that same spot and flew up into the sky, out of sight. Soon after there was another huge explosion.

That was enough for him, he needed to see what was going on. He ran as fast as he could into the village. When he arrived at the spot the explosion was, he was met with a huge bird like digimon, fighting a raging battle with a tall fiery man.

"What the…" he stared in shock at the two battling digimon.

"Clive!" Wraithmon appeared next to Clive's head, looking about her frantically, "I'm so glad your alive!" She hugged his neck tightly, which was surprising seeming as she was a ghost. 

"Of course I'm alive!" He yelled, prying Wraithmon off himself, "What's going on here?" A huge fireball went flying inches away from his head, slamming into the rubble behind him. He was blown off his feet and was sent flailing to the ground.

"Guys I could use some help here!" The huge bird yelled, flying over the other kids heads. Davis stepped forward bravely.

"We're on it, right veemon?" Veemon stepped up next to Davis.

"That's right." Davis pulled out a small laptop, similar to the one Cody had used to identify Wraithmon.

"Digiarmor energize!" He yelled.

An intense white light surrounded Veemon. Clive couldn't really see much of what happened to the small dragon. He could only hear the words 

'Veemon digivolve too…' Once the light had faded a bigger armor clad dragon like digimon stood in his place. It instantaneously launched itself at the fire man with surprising speed. All Clive could see was a blur of blue and red, but then again, his head had been hit pretty hard when he took that tumble.

"Well I'm not just gonna stand around, lets go Armadillomon." Cody pulled out his D3 and Armadillomon underwent the same process as veemon. Now standing where Armadillomon had once been, was a large bug looking digimon.

"Digmon, the drill of power."

Clive was shocked, all he could do was stare as TK's and Kari's digimon changed into two beautiful angels.

"What, How do they do that?" Clive asked, completely ignorant of the fight with Meramon, just staring in awe at the angels.

"Its called digivolving Clive. I could do it too, but I'm too inexperienced." Wraithmon explained to Clive, trying to get his attention.

"Do you change into an angel?" He asked not taking his eyes off Angewomon, "Especially one as pretty as her?"

"Well I don't know… I don't think so…" Wraithmon trailed off, glancing at Clive who seemed to be mesmerized by angewomon's grace and style. She could obviously never meet up to her standards. 

**

"Iris!" Polarmon shouted over the sounds of battle, "We need to help them, they're losing!" 

Polarmon was right, that meramon was single-handedly beating the five digimon. Iris pondered the situation in whatever spare thinking time she had. A huge fireball flew directly at Angemon sending him flying towards Iris. She quickly jumped out of the way, just in time as he went slamming into a half standing hut, and shrunk back into Patamon. TK was instantly at his side, trying to get him to move. 

Why was this meramon so strong? Usually Polarmon could beat up a meramon by herself. 

Meramon shot another fireball, this time aimed at Hawkmon. He was sent spiraling to the ground, changing back into Oopamon as he fell. Yolie ran over to his aid. 

"That's it!" Davis yelled, at Flamedramon, "The only was to win is to fight fire with fire!"

Iris glanced at Davis, then back to the fight. Digmon was hit head on by fiery punch. He instantly changed back into armadillomon.

"I'm sorry Cody, I wasn't strong enough." He coughed, before falling limp in Cody's arms.

The only two left standing were Angewomon and flamedramon, but not for long. Meramon's next attack was aimed straight at Angewomon. She was blasted out of the sky by a huge fireball, but not before she could get one last celestial arrow in. it hit the meramon in the chest, running right through it. It screamed in pain and clutched the spot on its chest where the arrow had hit. This gave flamedramon a clear shot. He took this opportunity and slammed the meramon in the face. Meramon went flying into the rubble of the town, causing old smoke and bits of charred wood to go flying about. He was lost from sight for a moment, but as the smoke cleared its outline stood out. 

"Damn!" Davis yelled, "Why didn't it die!?" 

Iris glanced at Flamedramon, he looked in pretty bad shape. The fight must've taken a lot out of him, he was half standing, half bending over. He was clutching his sides, panting. 

"Davis!" Iris yelled running over to him, "Davis call flamedramon back!" 

Davis stared at her for a minuet then glanced over to where flamedramon was. He looked almost about ready to keel over at any second.

"Flamedramon!" Davis called, "Flamedramon get out of there!" 

Flamedramon glanced back at Davis. His eyes hardened and he stood up straight, ignoring the blood that seeped out of the many cuts on his body.

"Don't worry Davis, I'm fine." He yelled back. 

Flamedramon stared at the imposing figure of the meramon. There was something different about this meramon that he had noticed, but in his pain, he had forgotten. 

The smoke cleared around the figure, revealing a perfectly intact meramon. Flamedramon stepped back in shock, how was it possible for it to still be alive, and in perfect shape? That last blast flamedramon had given it was the biggest attack he could issue, it had taken everything out of him. Yet there it stood, completely unfazed by the effort the digimon had given to kill it.

Then it struck him. Its eyes, they were different. They were deep purple, almost black in color, and they seemed to emit a disturbing glow. They weren't natural. That must've been the work of Witchmon. 

"Davis!" Flamedramon called over his shoulders, remembering to keep his eyes on the meramon, "look at its eyes!" 

"Huh?" Davis grunted back, "Who's got pies?"

"It's eyes!" He yelled.

That was all he could get in before the meramon charged forward. The force of the attack was more than flamedramon could take. The meramon pushed him back against a nearby tree, forcing the air out of his lungs. Flamedramon stared into its eyes, his own blurred from his fatigue. He stared deep into the black pits, searching. A shiver involuntary ran down his spine as he stared deeper into its eyes. Then it hit him like an anvil, images appeared from inside its eyes. Images of burning villages, of little pumpkinmon children. One stood out the most though, one of a small pumpkinmon child, holding onto another pumpkinmon. He appeared to be crying, obviously whomever it was he was holding was dead. He then stood up and walked in the other direction. 

A sharp pain in his ribs abruptly cut off the vision. The meramon punched flamedramon in the stomach again, sending him flying to the ground.

He dedigivolved back into veemon, despite how much he tried to stop it he was just too weak to fight or even put up any defense. 

Davis was instantly at his side,

"You did good buddy," He said picking veemon up in his arms, "But I told you to get out of there while you could, I don't want to say this but, I told you so." 

"But what are we gonna do about that meramon, the others are too hurt to fight."

"Wrong!" Davis exclaimed. 

He nodded his head towards where veemon had just been fighting the meramon. There, Megapolarmon was dueling one on one with the meramon.

"What a woman." Veemon mumbled before fainting in Davis' arms.

Polarmon!" Iris yelled, "Give it all you got!" 

"Alright Iris but I'm gonna need some help!" She yelled back, jumping lithely out of the way of one of Meramon's attacks.

"Don't be silly, How many times have you fought meramon?" 

"But this meramon is different!" She yelled, "It's stronger!"

"She's right." Davis butted in, "Look at its eyes." 

Iris stared at him for a moment, then shifted her attention to the meramon. Its eyes were ablaze with a black fire. They didn't show any signs of life, just an inexplicable evil.She stared at them till the meramon jumped out of her view.

A shiver ran up her spine, warning her of something. 

"Let me fight too!" Wraithmon yelled floating up next to Iris.

"No way!" Clive yelled running after her, "You saw what that thing did to the others!"

"I don't care, I'm going in." Clive went to grab hold of her but she disappeared from view, then reappeared in front of the meramon.

"Wraithmon you idiot!" Clive yelled running over to her.

"No Clive don't!" Iris yelled.

It was too late, the meramon had spotted him. It acted quickly, sending a huge fireball in Clive's direction. 

"No, Clive watch out!" Wraithmon yelled jumping in front of Clive, trying in vain to take the attack for him. 

Clive's digivice started to glow a bright orange. Wraithmon was surrounded by the warm glow, making her feel stronger. She felt her power building up inside of her, ready to unleash itself any minuet. 

"Wraithmon digivolve to…" She started, not even knowing why she said that. 

The orange glow quickly became a bright white light, surrounding wraithmon and Clive. Time seemed to stop as Wraithmon underwent her digivolving process. The light faded to a mere yellowish glow surrounding whatever wraithmon had become.

"Bakemon." She finished proudly.

She was instantly in action, stopping the ball of fire from reaching Clive. She set up a purple barrier around them both, meant to prevent magic attacks, but it worked effectively. The fireball harmlessly bounced off the magic barrier and flew into the surrounding rubble.

"Are you okay Clive?" Bakemon asked, "You're not hurt are you?"

Clive stared at Bakemon in horror, his face depicted disgust and loathing.

"What happened to you?" He asked, backing slowly away from her.

"What are you talking about Clive?" She floated closer to him. He recoiled in fear, trying to make as must distance between the two as possible.

"You're, You're…"

"No time for idle banter Clive we gotta get out of here!" Iris grabbed Clive's arm and hauled him to his feet. They ran away from the battling digimon and to the safety of the rubble.

"Wraithmon?" Clive asked still in a daze, "What happened to her?"

"She digivolved idiot!" Yolie replied stroking hawkmon's feathers.

"She's ugly." He said staring at her.

"That doesn't matter." Cody butted in, "She's risking her life for you out there and all you can say is she's ugly?" 

Clive snapped out of his daze and stared at Cody.

"You're right…" He trailed off turning his attention towards the raging battle going on before him. Bakemon was busy setting up magic barriers around the two digimon, while Megapolarmon was blasting Meramon with her ice attacks. They seemed to be doing a good job of beating it, well better than the before digimon, but Bakemon was obviously getting tired, as was Megapolarmon. Clive didn't know how long either of them could keep up their attacks. The meramon on the other hand was copping quite a beating, and was evidently getting tired of shooting attacks at the magic barrier. It's eyes had noticeably toned down a shade or two of black and were more purple now than before. It was also losing its strength, making its attacks weaker, but still effective.

"Let me fight too!" Clive heard Flamon whine. 

He glanced over to the energetic little ball of feathers. It bounced up and down in front of Melodye. She was staring at it, her eyes following its movements.

"I said before, I don't want you going out there and getting yourself hurt. You're too small to fight." She replied sternly.

"Ohh but please, " It begged in it's high pitched voice, "The other digimon get to fight, why can't I?"

"Yeah the other digimon fought, and look at what happened to them." Melodye pointed out, motioning to the group.

Flamon stopped bouncing and glanced about itself, beholding the injured digimon. Her eyes filled up with tears as she looked back at Melodye.

"You're right, I just wanted to show you that I can fight just as good as any other digimon, just because I'm small doesn't mean I'm incompetent." She hopped away from Melodye and away from the rest of the group. Melodye went to follow her but patamon stopped her.

"Let me handle it." He said sympathetically, "I had the same problem." He flew over to Flamon and set himself down next to her.

"Flamon?" He put one of his paws where he suspected her shoulder would have been, had she not been a ball, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." She sniffled in reply, "Just leave me alone."

"Flamon I know what you're going through, I had the same problem when I first tried to digivolve. All the other digimon were digivolving to their champion stages, but I just couldn't." He waited for flamon to reply, but she said nothing, just sat there sulking, "I just want to tell you, it's not the end of the world. Remember all things come with time." He stared at her back for a moment longer. Deciding she wasn't going to say anything her turned to go.

"Thank you patamon." She whispered.

He smiled to himself as he left her sitting in the corner.

**

"Polarmon doesn't look to good, I don't know how long she can stay fighting." Iris said viewing the fight with apprehension, "She's running out of energy, she won't be able to attack soon."

"Don't worry about it, " Davis comforted her, "You gotta believe in your digimon, if you don't have faith they wont be able to fight." Iris looked over at Davis gratefully.

"You're right, but I don't think Bakemon can keep those barriers up for much longer, and if they fall then the fight will be over."

"I hate to say it but you're right," Kari observed as Meramon shot another blast of fire at Megapolarmon. The barrier blocked some of it but the blast still affected Megapolarmon, showing the barriers were fading. Megapolarmon countered the attack with one of her own. 

"Icicle cannon!" She roared as huge sharp icicles shot out of her mouth, slamming hard into the Meramon's chest. It stumbled back, but quickly regained its composure. This time it tried launching an attack at Bakemon, but Megapolarmon intercepted the attack, taking it head on. That was all the barriers could take, they were disintegrated, and Megapolarmon was sent flying to the ground.

"Oh no!" Iris shouted. She was tempted to run out and comfort Megapolarmon but she knew she'd only be in the way if she did.

Megapolarmon slowly pulled itself to its feet, stumbling slightly. The meramon seemed to be in equally as much pain as she was, but it refused to give in. it ran forward, it's fist pulled back in an attacking position. It was too late for Megapolarmon to act. She didn't have enough time to jump out of the way, or the energy to charge up her cannon. She knew this was surly the end, she was unable to protect Iris or the digiworld so she deserved to die.

She stared at Meramon's eyes, looking deep into the purple oblivion. She couldn't detect any life in this monster at all. It wasn't even alive. How it was keeping itself alive was beyond her, as was its motivation for trying to kill them. 

As the impending attack drew closer everything seemed to be in slow motion. She could hear her heat pounding in her ears, could hear her heavy breathing all around her. Her short life flashed before her eyes. All the moments her and Iris had shared, all the battles she had fought, all the things she had experienced came together in one big collage of memories that lasted only a second. She closed her eyes, waiting for the final blow to be issued, but it never came. She waited crouched down in the dirt and rubble, but she felt no pain, nothing hit her, nothing happened. She lifted her eyes up, expecting to meet those lifeless purple pits that had replaced her enemy's eyes, but all she saw was the burnt rubble of the once thriving pumpkinmon town. 

She could hear the sounds of battle not too far away from her. She glanced around the battlefield, searching for her savior. She caught sight of the meramon, it was being furiously pounded by something. She looked closer, trying to catch a glimpse of, whatever it was beating into her enemy. It was moving so fast, but she managed to see what it was. A huge bug looking digimon was pounding relentlessly into the huge fire like man. 

What was it? How did it get here? Where did it come from? Why did it save her? These were a few of the questions that were going through Megapolarmon's head at that moment. Only a few seconds ago she was fearing for her very life, and now…

"Are you alright?" She heard Iris voice next to her. 

She glanced over to her partner, smiling slightly. 

"I'm fine." She sighed and lay her head in her paws. She could feel the dedigivolving process go through as she changed back to polarmon, "Just a little tired." She whispered.

"C'mon." Iris helped polarmon to her feet and they walked over to the rest of the group.

**

"Stingmon you can do it!" Ken yelled to his digi partner. Stingmon glanced backat Ken and gave him an appeciative smile. 

He quickly turned his attention to the wounded Meramon, it was considerably slow as Stingmon weaved circles around it. It tried in vain to follow his movements, but it only managed to stumble dizzily to the ground.

"That's it, now finish it off!" Ken yelled from the sidelines.

Stingmon instantly launched the finishing attack. It hit the meramon head on blasting it into the rubble. It lay there for a few moments, its purple eyes fading back into its natural red. It stared hauntingly into Stingmon's eyes before giving in. It started, from its feet to slowly dissolve into data then flying into the sky and disappearing.

"Ken!" Yolie yelled scrambling over rubble and logs to get to him, "We were all so worried about you!" 

Ken refused to look at her, keeping his eyes to the ground. He turned towards his digimon, who had transformed back into Wormmon. 

"What's the matter Ken?" She asked placing her hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," He whispered in reply, "just leave me alone."

"Ken…" Wormmon started crawling over to Ken's feet, "Don't you think you should tell them?"

Ken sighed and looked down at Wormmon, Wormmon just looked up at Ken expectantly.

"Alright." He sighed, "Why don't you all gather round to hear my tale." He spat seeing the group crowding around him.

"Ken…" Wormmon said looking up at Ken once again.

"Alright, I-I just I saw what happened to this village and I remembered what I did… as the digimon emperor." He stopped for a moment, trying to hold back the tears that burned his eyes.

"But Ken, that's all in the past." Kari said standing face to face with him, "You have to realize that what you did has past and there's no way of going back and changing it." 

"I know that, you think I don't, It's just that whenever I see things like…this I think back to all the pain and suffering I caused."

"Ken we gave you another chance, what else do you want?" Davis butted in.

"You wouldn't understand! My hands, they caused so much pain…" 

"Ken…" TK started walking over closer to him, "If you're going to live in the past we might as well leave you here to sulk. The thing you have to realize is you can't do anything about those digimon you hurt, or killed."

Ken noticeably tensed at the thought, his shoulders started to shake with sobs.

"TK." Yolie scalded, glaring at him.

"Yolie if Ken want's to stop living in the past and come to his senses about the whole thing then he's gonna have to listen to me. Now as I was saying, if you want a chance to make up for what you did then you have to come to terms that you did kill many digimon in your anger. And the only way to fix that is to stop the killing that is going on right now, or more digimon are gonna end up like your victims."

Ken's shoulders were shaking violently with sobs, he lifted his head to look TK in the eyes. TK stared into his bright blue eyes as if he were staring right into his soul.

"I know that, it's just so hard." 

"It's okay Ken." Wormmon pulled at the bottom of Ken's pants, "Remember what I said, if you just be the sweet kind Ken that we all love, then you don't need to ask for forgiveness, because we've already forgiven you."

"That's right Ken, don't worry about it, it's all in the past." Cody stepped up to Ken and looked him in the eye, "I forgive you for what you did."

"Yeah we all do." Davis said, speaking for the whole group.

Ken's sobbing increased, his hands coming up to cover his face. 

"Thank you everyone." He mumbled between hiccups.

"What's up with him?" Melodye whispered into Iris' ear.

"I'm not really sure, Davis told me he went all crazy and tried to destroy the digiworld or something like that, and now he's good again and he's trying to repent for what he did."

"Ohh." Melodye said nodding her head, "I get it."

"What's going on over here?" Clive asked loudly, a small ghost digimon lying limply in his arms.

"Shh," Melodye shushed him, motioning over to the sobbing form of Ken, "It's a kind of emotional moment."

"Someone wanna fill me in?" He asked in a quieter tone.

"Not now," Melodye whispered back, "What happened to wraithmon?"

"She's tired, and I think she's pretty badly hurt." He looked down at the limped form in his arms, "She changed again."

"That's strange, Flamon's never changed, but here are all these digimon who can just digivolve at will, it's quite mind boggling."

Clive just shrugged and continued staring at his injured digimon. 

"Umm does anyone know how to heal a ghost?" He asked. 

Everyone's heads turned towards Clive. They all stared on in confusion, Ken glanced up at Clive, his tear stained eyes shimmering in the light.

"Here…" He stood up and walked over to the maimed digimon, wiping his eyes and nose with a sniffling sound, "I think I know what to do…" 

He picked up the small ghost and held her gently in his arms. He closed his eyes for a moment, as if he were searching for something inside of her. He quickly snapped them open.

"Clive, give me your digivice." He ordered. Clive instantly had his digivice out and handed it to Ken who snatched it up. He gently laid her down on the ground, and held the digivice just over her head. It started to glow a healing golden light, as did the small ghost. The light completely engulfed the small digimon, blinding the group as they watched on. As it started to fade it revealed Yuriemon, floating inches from the ground. 

"Wraithmon?" Clive asked in confusion, and happiness.

"Yuriemon," She answered, "It's Yuriemon now Clive."

"You mean you changed again, just like when you changed into…" He trailed off into an uncomfortable silence."

"Yuriemon." Yolie started, breaking the silence, "The in-training form of Wraithmon, her special attack is ghastly breath."

Clive stared at her for a moment more before mumbling something and glancing back at Yuriemon.

"Umm guys, I really think we should be going now." Davis pointed out, staring out over the horizon, "The sun's going down."

"You're right, lets get out of here before any more digimon decide to attack." Yolie agreed stalking past the group to the edge of the town.

The rest of the group followed her and they were soon out of the town. 

"Hey umm Davis…" Iris asked jogging to catch up with Davis, "How long do you think it'll take for us to get back, I mean by the time we get to that TV the sun will already have gone down."

Davis glanced at her'

"Hmm, your right, oh well it wont be that much after dark…" He trailed off his attention swaying to something in the bushes to their left, "or we could just use that one."

He pushed the bushes aside and alerted the rest of the group.

"Nice going Davis, I so didn't want to go through that smelly cave. No offence Yuriemon." Yolie pushed her way through the group so she could get close to the TV. She immediately pulled out her Digivice and held it out in front of her.

"Digiport open!" She yelled.

The other children followed and they were soon back in the real world.

"Ah get off me!" Yolie yelled trying to push the pile of people off her.

"What a horrible dream." Clive said jumping off the group and sitting on a nearby chair.

"Clive this isn't a dream." Yuriemon insisted.

"Oh great she followed me home. How am I supposed to explain this to mum?"

"Clive that's not very nice." Kari said walking over to comfort the little ghost.

"It doesn't matter, none of this is real anyway."

"It's thinking like that, that can get you into trouble." Ken said walking over next to Clive, "I used to think that digimon weren't real, but then I learned they're not just data on a computer, they're real."

Clive stared at Ken in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Clive stood up and started walking to the door, "You're all crazy!" He stormed out leaving a confused group of teenagers in his wake.

"Well that was weird." Davis said staring at the door.

"Clive wait for me." Yuriemon floated out the door after her master.

"Poor guy."


	6. Revelations

Chapter 6:

Chapter 6: Revelations

"You should have seen it Tai!" Davis exclaimed jumping and waving his arms around to exaggerate his point, "It was really strong but we beat it." 

"Hey settle down Davis you're acting like a little kid."

"Sorry Tai," Davis stopped jumping and continued walking, "anyway as I was saying, not even Flamedramon could beat it. The thing was it's eyes, they were really creepy, they were like this dark purple color."

Davis, Tai, Kari, Sora and Iris, followed with their respective digimon walked together down the side of the street. They were heading for the park where they would meet up with the rest of the digidestined group to discuss what had happened when the group had gone in. 

"Everyone's digimon were hurt trying to beat it."

"He's right, if it wasn't for Wormmon we'd probably all be dead." Kari agreed

"Hey hold it, save it for when we're with the rest of the group." Tai butt in halting their talking.

They walked in silence the rest of the way. When they reached the park they saw Matt and TK sitting on a nearby bench. Tai snuck up behind the two and grabbed Matt by the neck rubbing his knuckles into his head. Matt yelled and tried to pull away, unfortunately Tai had a firm hold on him. When Tai finally let up Matt tackled him to the ground.

"Boys." Kari stated walking over to TK, "Are you the only ones here yet?"

"Mmm hmm." TK mumbled in reply watching as his brother and Tai wrestled with each other.

"Tai get up off the ground." Sora ordered walking over to the two, "Your making a scene."

Tai and Matt immediately stopped wrestling and stood up, Matt dusting the grass and dirt off his clothes.

"Sorry Sora," Tai said wrapping her in a hug and kissing her softly on the lips.

"I hate it when you do that." She protested lightly but gave in anyway.

"Get a room you two." Everyone turned around at the sound of Izzy's voice, all but Tai and Sora who were locked in a kiss.

"So is this everyone?" He asked looking over the group.

"No Joe said he'd be along. I don't know where Cody is, but Yolie is going to pick up Melodye." Kari explained sitting down on the bench with Izzy.

"So you found the last one?" Izzy pulled his laptop out of his bag and sat it on his lap.

"Yeah, his name's Clive." TK said sitting down next to Kari

"Why isn't he here?" Matt asked

"He thinks he's dreaming, and none of us know where he lives." Davis explained

"Oh… does he go to your school?"

"Nope, none of us have ever seen him before." 

"So how did you know he was digidestined?" Izzy asked, mostly concentrating on his laptop

"He was in the school when we went in there on the weekend, two digivices came flying out of the computer and one went flying to him." TK said

"Why was he in the school?" Tai asked, now concentrated on the conversation at hand.

"I don't know, he was just there. What he was doing there is beyond me."

"Hey guys!" They heard Yolie yell. The group turned around to welcome Yolie, all except Izzy who was lost in his computer. Yolie, Ken, Cody and Melodye walked over to the group, their digimon following closely behind. 

"Is this everyone?" Cody asked running his eyes over the group.

"Well Joe said he'd be here, and Mimi's back in America." Matt explained

"Oh well lets just start anyway." Izzy said impatiently, "Tell us what happened when you went into the digiworld, did you encounter Witchmon?"

"No we didn't see witchmon," Davis started, "When we got in there we found Wraithmon. Iris lead us to this burned down old town and we got into a fight with this really tough meramon."

"Wait hold up a second, who's Wraithmon?" Tai asked

"Wraithmon is Clive's digimon." Kari explained.

"And about this meramon," Izzy asked, "You say it was really strong."

"Yeah it had these creepy black eyes, like it was possessed or something." Davis said

"Hmm." Izzy tapped on his keyboard, seemingly very interested in what he was doing.

"So you didn't see Witchmon?" Matt asked.

"Nope, by the time we got in there and made it to the town it was already pretty late, then after the fight with the meramon the sun was already starting to go down so we thought we better get back. We couldn't really do much exploring." TK explained.

"So why do you think that meramon was so strong?" Sora asked Izzy.

"Well Davis you said that it's eyes had changed colors, as if it were possessed. Did you see any other wild digimon that day?" He asked looking up from his laptop.

"Well no, except for Wraithmon." Yolie said thoughtfully.

"So what's the verdict?" Davis asked impatiently, hopping energetically from one foot to the other 

"I don't know, I know it's strange but I can't really make any final analysis with the information you've given me."

"Can you think of anything?" Cody asked

"I don't know maybe she hypnotizes the digimon to be her slaves." Izzy said sarcasm evident in his voice. 

"That makes sense it's sort of like when Devimon had those black gears and it was turning those digimon evil." Patamon said

"Yeah I don't think that meramon would just have attacked us like that." Kari said.

"Waait!" They heard Joe holler. The group turned their attention to him as he ran heedlessly through the park, "What huff, huff have I missed?" He asked through heaving breaths.

"Well Izzy just suggested that Witchmon hypnotizes digimon turning them into her slaves." Cody summed up their previous conversation.

"Oh no I missed Izzy's theory, didn't I tell you not to start without me?" Joe complained plopping down on the bench, almost sitting on Snowmon in the process.

"Hey watch it you big oaf!" Snowmon squealed jumping out of the way just in time.

Joe didn't even seem to notice as Snowmon dived out from under his butt.

"Do you want to repeat it for me?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm sorry it was kinda one of them spur of the moment things." Izzy replied sympathetically.

"Humph what a waste of my time." Joe mumbled angrily.

"Now that's not true, you get to see all of us again." Sora said helpfully laying a hand on his shoulder.

"Gee what a prize." He mumbled to himself.

"Your not your usual self Joe." Matt said slapping him on the back almost sending him flying off the seat.

"Sorry guys I've just had so much work and I'm getting really stressed."

"You should relax sometimes Joe, all that stressing is bad for the heart." Cody said, "My grampa knows lots of old stress remedies."

"Thanks Cody, but I'll be okay." As he said that his beeper started bleeping loudly. He pulled it out and read the message, "Damn I gotta go… Sorry guys." He looked over the group with an apologetic glance and was off.

"Poor guy he seems really up tight." Sora said, watching his back disappear into the night.

**

Will they remember me? What if they don't remember me? What if they don't even live here anymore? They've probably gotten on with life by now; they wouldn't dwell on it for this long, would they? 

Iris stood out side the door to her old apartment, the apartment her parents owned before she had been pulled into the digiworld. 

She could still remember where she lived, of course she could. She could remember everything about this place, what it looked like, what it smelt like, she could even remember the exact spot where the first ray of sunlight would land in the morning. This was the place she had spent her whole life in the real world. She had grown up in this apartment. She could even remember most of the people that lived on this floor, that is if they haven't moved away. 

She stood at the door, room 15B, that was the place she had lived. The problem was, was it the place where her parents lived. They could've moved on with life by now, they should have moved on with life by now. Hell they could have even had another kid by now. 

She went to knock on the door, but hesitated. So many things were keeping her back. What was she just supposed to walk in after ten years and just say,

"Hey mum I'm home, you missed me?" 

Things just didn't work like that they've probably forgotten her. Even if they did still live here. 

That didn't matter, she had to find her parents, she was starting to forget what they looked like. She was scared, she had been in the digiworld for so long that she couldn't even form a picture of her own mothers face in her head. She couldn't remember what color her eyes were, or her face looked like. She couldn't remember anything. Just that her mother was kind, and she had a sweet voice. She could remember when she got sick, her mother would always be there by her side to make her feel better. Or when she would get scared at night, her mother would be there to comfort her and tell her everything was alright. 

Tears started to involuntary well up in Iris' eyes. She gathered all her courage, all the memories of her family came flying back to her. She knocked weakly on the door, there was no answer. She knocked again, this time a little louder. 

"Just a sec!" She heard someone yell. 

Her heart pounded in her ears, and her knees started to get weak. Could this be her mother? The door opened a bit. Slowly, slowly it started, it made a low creaking sound as the person behind pushed it open. Then with a woosh it was fully open. 

A tall thin woman stood in the door way.

"Can I help you?" She asked, confusion marring her pretty features. 

Iris could hardly breath, was this her mother? This stranger, was she her mother?

"U-um I'm looking for Mrs. Yoki…" She said shyly, "Does she live here?"

"I'm sorry love, Mr. and Mrs. Yoki moved quite some years ago. I heard they lost their only child around about the same time they moved, they must've been devastated." The woman rattled on for a moment longer and then looked sharply at Iris, "Why'd you want to know anyway?"

"I-I heard they lived here and I-I…" she trailed off looking down at her feet, "Um do you know where they live now?" 

"Sure, you know Odibah? They live around there somewhere." 

"Huh Odibah?" Iris stared at the lady in shock, "Are you sure?" 

"Yeah, you know where that is?"

"I, U-um thank you very much." Iris bowed low, and in a flash she was gone.

"Strange kid." The lady said shaking her head as she watched Iris run down the hall.

**

Another loss, another cold disgraceful loss. Witchmon paced back and forth around her throne room, her head bowed in thought. What was she to do with these digidestined. Sure that meramon had just been one lousy meramon but they had beat it with ease. Gatomon had told her to split them up, but she never really had a chance. Once the sun started to set they just retreated. How was she supposed to split them up if they were never here? 

She grumbled to herself as she paced around her throne.

"Mistress witchmon, stressing yourself like this is not going to help. You need to think rationally." Gatomon chided following Witchmon. 

"How am I supposed to think rationally when those digidestined are interfering with my plans?" Witchmon screamed in reply.

"Well let's think about this. They really haven't done anything to ruin your plans yet, all they did was kill one lousy meramon. We know they'll _try to ruin your plans but we're already one step ahead of them. We know for a fact that these digidestined depend heavily upon each other. It's like a card tower, every card depends on another to keep the tower up. If you take one of those cards away though, the whole tower falls."_

Witchmon's head perked up at the proposition,

"Go on." She said waving her hand.

"Now we've already gone through this. Next time they come into the digiworld, well catch them by surprise. Even if we only catch one or two, the whole group will collapse and they wont be able to function. So say we attack them as soon as they get here, we capture one or two, maybe three of them and the rest are screwed. We keep repeating this process until we've got all of them. that sound familiar?" Gatomon climbed up onto Witchmon's throne and sat back comfortably, "once we've captured them all we've got the cat in the bag. We'll be able to take over the digiworld and evidently, the human world."

Witchmon stopped her pacing and glanced at Gatomon,

"I'll take over the digiworld…"

"Hmm?" Gatomon looked up from her place on the throne.

"I'll take over the digiworld, not we." She said forcefully.

"Oh of course." Gatomon lowered her head and whispered, "You keep telling yourself that."

"What was that?" Witchmon snapped.

"I said, you can get a new hat." Gatomon covered up. Witchmon glared at her suspiciously, but let it go.

"Now get off my throne you mangy fleabag." Witchmon bellowed swiping her long fingernails at Gatomon. Gatomon quickly ducked and scampered off the throne.

"Damn ungrateful little… Witch" Gatomon muttered as she dragged herself out of the throne room.

"Hmm, Hmm, Hmm stupid digidestined, you have no idea what you're in for." Witchmon leant over her crystal ball and waved her hands above it. A picture of the digidestined group appeared inside the ball. Witchmon laughed hysterically at the thought of torturing the digidestined. She could just picture their mangled bodies lying in her torture chamber, after succumbing to the physical abuse she would inflict on them. Her soft giggling slowly became louder and louder and soon her malicious laughter rang through the halls of the old desecrated castle.

**

"Iris, Iris are you okay?" Kari sat on the side of Iris bed and stared down at the lump she presumed was Iris.

"Hmm," Was all she got in reply.

"Iris what's the matter?" Kari asked worriedly 

"Nothing…" Iris replied quietly

"Does it have something to do with…boys?" Kari asked cautiously.

"Huh no." Iris sat up and looked Kari in the eye.

"Then what, tell me." 

"Alright, um I-I went to my old apartment today, after school."

"Oh Iris… why didn't you tell me?" Kari took hold of Iris hand, "What happened?"

"They, they don't live there anymore." 

"Did you find out where they live now?"

"Yeah, the lady there said they moved somewhere in Odibah."

"Huh you mean…?"

"Yep, we could be living in the same building as my parents and I don't even know." Tears burnt Iris' eyes. She tried to blink them away, to hide her feelings but they still shone glistening in her eyes. 

Kari squeezed her hand tightly, letting Iris know she was there for her.

"Kari," She hiccuped, "I can't even remember what my mother looks like."

Kari looked at her sympathetically. She lent over and hugged her friend, letting her cry onto her shoulder.

"It's alright Iris, you haven't seen your parents for years."

"But it's my own mother, I can't even remember what she looked like. What kind of person does that make me?" 

She stared intensely into Kari's eyes. Tears stained her cheeks, giving them a wet shimmering look. Her eyes looked so sad, depicting clearly what she felt at that moment. Kari looked deep into the blue depths, almost staring straight into her soul. Though there was much she didn't know about Iris she saw so much loneliness and sorrow deep in her heart. She had been alone for so many years, it's no wonder she always looked so lonely. 

Kari felt so sorry for her friend, she could only imagine the horrors Iris had gone through while in the digiworld. She had only had to stay in there for a couple of weeks and she knew that was all she could take. Think of being in there for half your life. Not to mention she had been so young when she had entered, it's only natural she would forget certain things about the real world.

"It's alright Iris," Kari said trying to reassure her friend, "It's only natural you'd forget things."

"But this is my mother we're talking about, the woman who raised me since birth."

"Well what can you remember about her?" Kari asked forcefully.

Iris was taken with surprise. She stopped crying and stared at the far wall. Kari was almost about to ask again when Iris spoke.

"She had a-a really pretty smile. I remember that." 

Kari smiled to herself, maybe she could shed a little light on her friend.

"And she was ever so kind." Iris said ruefully, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye, "And she never raised her voice."

"See, you haven't forgotten." Kari said releasing Iris' hand from her grasp.

Iris smiled despite her sorrow. She looked appreciatively at her friend.

"Thank you Kari." She hugged her tightly

"It's alright, what are friends for?"

Iris released her from the hug and looked her in the eye.

"When are we going to the digiworld next?"

Kari was surprised by this question. Why would Iris be so eager to go back when she just got home?

"Um well we could go tomorrow, but we'd have to wait till after school."

Iris nodded her head in satisfaction, "Why?"

"Oh no reason…" Iris said mysteriously. She gave Kari a weird look and laid down facing the wall.

**

"Davis what are you going to do about it?" Veemon asked yet again. He had been asking Davis that same question all through the afternoon and still now at… 8:30! It was way past his bedtime.

"I don't know Veemon, what do you think I should do?"

"Look Davis I'll say this one more time, you need to forget about Kari. She's obviously to hung up on TK to even notice you. Whereas Iris…"

Davis lay staring at his roof for a moment listening intently to what Veemon had to say.

"Iris…" He chided, trying to get Veemon back on the topic at hand.

"She seems to like you."

"Yeah so, a lot of girls like me."

"Don't go too far Davis. What I'm trying to say is you need to forget about Kari. As I've said so many times before, she's _in love with TK." Veemon said matter-of-factly_

"You don't know she loves him," Davis shot back sitting up in his bad and glaring at Veemon, "They've known each other for a long time." He finished weakly.

"Oh come on Davis, you can't fool yourself forever. You're starting to act more and more like the stupid Davis now days, why can't you just be yourself?"

"I know Veemon it's just, she's so pretty, and nice, and caring, and gentle, and I could go on forever." Davis sighed and flopped down on the bed, "I can't help it."

"It's true, you can't help who you love." Veemon agreed quietly. 

"But I have to accept, I'm just not as good as TK, he's just so perfect." Davis said scornfully, "Sometimes I just wish he'd… die or something, get out of my way. The way he looks at me when he's with Kari, his stupid mocking looks just make me wanna." Davis grabbed a nearby pillow and started to imitate choking a person.

"Settle down Davis, I've watched him when he's with Kari, he doesn't even look at you, your just angry because Kari pays more attention to him."

"I know, I know Veemon, he's just so… stupid." Davis said laying down yet again.

"Don't worry about it Davis, if Kari loves you then she'll come to you in her own time. If she doesn't then don't force it, just let it go, life goes on."

"You're right Veemon, you always are." Davis grabbed Veemon from where he was sitting and gave him a big tight hug, "Thanks buddy."

"No prob." Veemon said gasping for air, "Now can you let me go?"

**

The halls of Odibah high were most usually packed with children. Today was no exception, children bustled through the narrow corridors trying their best to make it through the flow of people to their next class. Unfortunately for Clive the flow of people had pushed him along and he was pretty sure he had missed the classroom where his first class was being held. He managed to duck into a small space between lockers and wait for the current of people to lighten. As it did he ducked away from his hiding place and walked slowly back down the hall. 

Clive had never been to a public school before, and he wasn't really sure if he wanted to be here now. Already in the short time he had been here, he had seen at least two groups of people threatening other, smaller children for god only knows what reason. Also he had witnessed couples groping each other in public, right in front of all these people. He was horrified. 

He stopped for a minuet to check his timetable, he glanced around himself in search of the room he was looking for. 101, 102, 104… he glanced down at his timetable again, room 103. Where was room 103? He looked around himself again… it just wasn't there. Clive stood in a stupor, staring down at him timetable. How could this be?

"Oh on I'm gonna be so late!" Clive jerked his head up. He looked around for the source of the voice it seemed familiar. He heard footsteps to the left of him, but it was too late to do anything about it. a purple and green blur came flying around the corner and smashed right into him, sending them both flying. He stood up and dusted himself off. He turned his attention to whoever had run into him… it was that girl from his dream, what was her name again… Yolie. She sat on the floor surrounded by books, obviously the ones she had been carrying. She glanced up at him innocently. When she saw who she had hit her look instantly changed to one of surprise, matching Clive's exactly.

"You… um Clive," She said pulling herself to her feet and collecting her books, "What are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" He mimicked.

"It's rude to answer a question with a question you know, "She said matter-of-factly, "anyway I go to school here, you?"

"I, um it's my first day." He admitted shyly.

"Did you lose your way?" She asked in sarcastic sympathy.

"Shut up!" He snapped, "I've looked around and there is no 103!"

"103, is that by any chance Maths class?" 

"Yeah so what if it is."

"Your in my class!" She said happily. She grabbed his arm and started pulling him along, "Now I have an excuse for being late."

"Wait!" He shouted pulling away from her, "What do you think you're doing woman?"

"I'm taking you to class, now come on." She went to grab his arm again but he pulled away.

"I can find it myself." He said, stubbornly crossing his arms across his chest.

"Don't be silly, I couldn't find this class when I first got here either."

Clive glanced at her from over his shoulder, she was looked nervously around herself, obviously expecting someone to come around the corner and start yelling at them.

"Where is it?" 

She looked at his happily,

"Right this way," She chirped as she grabbed his arm dragged him down the hall. She stopped a moment looked around suspiciously and continued dragging him. She stopped in front of another smaller hallway, at the end of it was a door clearly marked 103.

"Here we are." She said. 

She let go of him and walked cautiously to the door. She lightly knocked and pulled the door open. The teacher inside the room went silent, as did the rest of the class.

"You had better have a very good explanation for this Yolie." The teacher said sternly.

"Oh but I do Sir. We have a new student." She said proudly. She grabbed Clive's arm and pulled him up next to her, "This is Clive." She shoved him into the room, and then walked in herself.

"Thank you Yolie," The teacher said darkly, glaring at her back, but Yolie didn't seem to notice, "You can sit down next to her Clive."

Clive gave the teacher a pleading look, but reluctantly followed his orders.

"So why did you decide to go to this school anyway Clive?" Yolie asked as soon as he sat down.

"None of your business." He mumbled through gritted teeth.

"Fine whatever."

**

"Shut up! Why the hell did you come anyway?" Clive yelled at Wraithmon, "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I'm sorry Clive, I just wanted to see what the human world was like, all the other digimon said that it was really cool and that it had lots of really yummy food, even though I don't eat food cause I'm a ghost but it sounded yummy." Wraithmon rattled on.

Melodye watched in confusion as Clive yelled frantically at his backpack. He was such a weird person, no wonder he didn't have any friends. He seemed to be having some sort of heated argument with his bag, indeed it was definitely his bag. Kari came up behind her and stared questioningly at Clive.

"What's he doing?" She asked.

"I have absolutely no idea, do you think we should go and talk to him?"

"Hmm," Kari agreed. 

They both walked over to where Clive was sitting. He glanced up at them, but quickly lost interest and concentrated on his backpack.

"Um Clive…" Kari started, "Haven't seen you around here before."

"That's because I've never been here before?" He replied closing his backpack and sitting on it. There was a muffled cry from the bag but Clive quickly shut it up.

"Um what's in your bag, is it Wraithmon?" Melodye as suspiciously.

Clive stared at them as if he didn't know what they were talking about.

"What are you talking about? I've never heard of any Wraithmon, who are you?"

"Clive let me out, who are you talking to?" Came the muffled cries of Wraithmon.

"No Wraithmon?" Melodye said setting her hands on her hips.

"Hello? Clive this isn't funny." Wraithmon wailed again.

"Clive let her out." Kari scalded, "That's not very nice."

"Make me." He said stubbornly. With that he went flying off his bag onto the ground. He jumped up and looked around to see who had pushed him. He saw Davis holding his backpack up, Wraithmon next to him.

"What the hell was that for!?" He yelled at Davis.

"I heard Kari yelling so I decided to butt in." He flashed Kari a smile and through the pack at Clive.

"Clive are you okay?" Wraithmon asked floating over to his aid, "are you hurt?"

"I'm fine." He mumbled, "Why the hell are you all here anyway? Is this some sort of cult gathering?" 

"What are you talking about Clive?" TK asked coming over and joining the group, "This is called a school, we go to school here."

"Don't you think it's a little coincidental that all the 'digidestined' go to the same school?" Clive said picking up his backpack and setting on his back.

"So you believe us now?" Cody asked.

"No I don't believe you, this is all crazy, you're all crazy," He yelled glaring at each of them individually.

"Well then hoe do you explain Wraithmon?" Melodye asked smartly, "If we're all crazy, then you must be too"

"Shut up all of you, this is all some weird demented dream I'm telling you." He cupped his hands over his ears signaling the end of the conversation. Most of the group gave up trying to talk to him, but Davis was determined.

"Crazy Clive, crazy Clive." He chanted dancing around Clive in a childish fashion. Clive just sat down with his hands tightly stuck over his ears. 

"Crazy Clive's seeing digimon, this isn't a dream crazy Clive." Davis waved his hands over Clive's eyes trying to get his attention, "C'mon humor me."

Clive didn't budge he merely closed his eyes, ignoring Davis' taunts. Davis sat down next to Clive and started nudging him in the ribs. It was easy to ignore at first, but the light nudges soon became painful punches to the side of his body. He had, had enough. He grabbed Davis shirt and lifted Davis off the ground by it.

"You say 'crazy Clive one more time and I'll show you how crazy I can go." He stared Davis in the eye for a moment before setting him down. He rubbed the place on his neck where Clive had picked him up, and glared at him.

"Damn crazy weirdo." He mumbled as he walked off.

"Are you okay Clive, I've never seen you like that before." Wraithmon asked concerned.

"Get in the bag." Clive ordered coldly, opening his pack for Wraithmon to get in.

"But Clive…" She protested, but she was cut off by Clive's stern voice,

"I said get in the bag Wraithmon." She looked at Clive pleadingly, but reluctantly followed his order. 

**

"Damn stupid crazy kid, I'll show him." Davis muttered.

"Maybe he had a reason for snapping like that, you were being pretty mean Davis." Iris pointed out. She sat down next to him at her desk and pulled out some books.

"He didn't have to go all crazy like that, I was just playing." Davis pouted.

"Well what would you do in his situation?" Iris asked poking him in the shoulder with a pencil.

"I'd laugh heartily." 

"Yeah right, you'd probably try pound them into the ground." 

"I know, but still."

"But still nothing, he had a perfectly good reason for going ape, but I gotta admit it was pretty funny." She smirked at the memory of Clive sitting there with his hands over his ears while Davis danced about like a child.

"Hmm it was, you want me to do it again?" He asked nudging her with his shoulder.

"No it's okay, you'll probably do something just as dumb next break."

"Hey are you calling me dumb?" He asked in mock anger,

"No, no definitely not." She replied shaking her head vigorously, 

"Hey guys." They turned their attention to TK, "We're gonna go into the digiworld this afternoon okay?"

They nodded their heads in silent unison. 

"We'll meet in the computer room, and Iris do you could get Clive to come?"

Iris looked at him in confusion, 

"Why me?"

"I don't know you just seem like the nice kind of person." He winked at her and turned back around.

Davis was fuming with rage. He glanced at Iris, who had turned pink with embarrassment. 

"Stupid TK always flirting with the girls." Davis grumbled in his mind, "First it's Kari, now it's Iris. He's purposely trying to steal all the girls I like. I know what he's trying to pull, he'll pay."

**

"Hey Clive, um I was wondering, I-I mean, we were all wondering if you'd like to join us in going into the digiworld." Iris asked shakily. She and Clive stood beside a group of lockers, children passed occasionally, but other than that they were the only people there.

"Why the hell should I?" He spat back, "After that display today I don't even know why I'm talking to you."

"Look Clive I know Davis can be a bit hot headed but you can't judge by that. If you give him another chance I'm sure you'll see he's a perfectly sensible person." She tried sounding as reasonable as possible. 

She knew what she was saying was all a big lie, well to her it was anyway, but she had to convince him to come.

"And give me one good reason why I would go back into the 'digiworld'." He raised his eyebrow and stared at her distrustfully.

"Well umm because the digiworld's in trouble and only the digidestined can save it." She tried, shifting nervously from one foot to the other.

"You don't seem to sure of yourself."

"But of course I am, if we just left the digiworld as it is now then lots of innocent digimon would get hurt. "She said, surer of herself now, "do you remember that village we saw when we went in there the first time? If we don't try and stop Witchmon then there'll be so many more villages like that… Destroyed."

Clive stared at her, that same cynical look plastered on his features, but his eyes held something else. 

He could picture that village in his mind that destroyed village. Memories of burning villages and women dying ran through his head, could he really let that happen? Even if this was just a dream and everything here was all fake could he really just forget his human instincts and let that happen? 

He glanced at Wraithmon, she was just floating there next to him, anticipating his reply just as much as the girl before him. 

The thing that bothered him the most was how real and long this dream was. When was he just going to wake up and find he's just dreaming? Was he going to wake up and find he's just dreaming? Or could this possibly be real, could it be fate's way of mocking him. Not that she's ever stopped mocking him. 

He stopped his musing for a moment to consider his options. If he was to go to the digiworld he could find out if he was dreaming or not. If he didn't the dream would just keep going and he (or Davis) would eventually drive him crazy. 

"Fine I'll go." He said crossing his arms over his chest, "But if Davis even comes near me I'm gonna rip his eyes out of their sockets and shove them up his butt."

Iris nodded hastily her eyes lighting up with happiness.

"Great, this is prefect, we've finally nearly got the whole team together." 

She grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the computer room.

**

"That's it digidestined come on over and play." Witchmon cackled as she watched her crystal ball intently. 

"Witchmon everything is set up, we have guards posted at points 6B, 6F, 8G, 9C and…" Gatomon started.

"Is everything set up?" Witchmon asked impatiently.

"Yes Mistress." Gatomon replied.

"Well I don't want to hear your military mumbo jumbo just get to work!" Witchmon screamed.

Gatomon sighed, her shoulders slumping for a moment. She quickly composed herself and gave Witchmon a quick salute.

"Yes Mistress." She turned sharply and started to walk out.

"Wait!" Witchmon ordered, "Where are you going?"

"I'm carrying out plan B, remember?"

"No you're not, you're staying here with me." Witchmon glanced sharply at Gatomon, her eyes piercing Gatomon's.

"But Mistress…"

"No butts, you're staying."

Gatomon let out another sigh and turned back into the throne room.

"Very well, but I don't know why I can't go and have some fun." 

"Don't worry your time will come."

**

"Alright everyone ready?" Davis yelled holding his digivice out in front of himself.

"Yeah!" everyone cheered in unison.

"Well then lets go!" He yelled back, "Digiport open!"

"Wait guys!" Yolie yelled, she looked around but everyone was already gone, "I got an email from Gennai." She finished.

She shrugged her shoulders and grabbed her digivice out.

"Digiport open!" She yelled.

She underwent the ever so familiar down loading process and landed painfully on the ground with a thud.

"Guys! She yelled jumping up. She frantically looked around herself for any sign of her friends.

"Where are they?" Hawkmon asked.

"I don't know. Guys! Guys were are you?" She turned her eyes searching the surrounding terrain. Tree, tree, bush, rock, tree, no digidestined.

"What does the email say?" Hawkmon asked breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Huh oh right the email." She turned her attention to her digiport and read the message on the screen.

_Yolie,_

_ _

_Tell the other children not to enter the digiworld. There is another time lapse, once you go in there is no way you'll be able to get out. The gate will be shut._

_And Yolie tell Izzy to write back, he hadn't for years._

_Thanks_

_ _

_Gennai._

_ _

"What's a time lapse?" Hawkmon asked.

"I don't know but he said we won't be able to get out!" She yelled frantically. She pulled out her D3 and aimed it at the spot where the TV had once been. Instead of a TV there was just dirt.

"The TV, where is it?" she looked around but it was no where to be found, "Hawkmon do something!" She yelled picking up Hawkmon and shaking him roughly.

"What am I supposed to do?" 

"I don't know, all I know is I don't want to be stuck in here." She let Hawkmon go and knelt down in the dirt, "I'll miss my soap operas, and my computer, and my mummy." She wailed

"Yolie get a hold of yourself." Hawkmon yelled shaking Yolie by the shoulders. 

It was useless, she was completely absorbed in her grieving. 

Hawkmon shook his head, he decided he'd just wait till she got over it herself. While he did he let his eyes wander over the surrounding terrain. They were situated in a small grassy clearing in the middle of a dense black forest. This place seemed to be the only place the sun shone. He studied the ground about his feet, the grass had been singed, recently. His eyebrows knotted in confusion, what if the others had been attacked? He shifted his gaze to a nearby tree, it had been knocked over, obviously by something big and strong, and was supported by another tree behind it. The ground behind Yolie was slightly broken, and had formed a small canyon, around that the grass was brown and burnt.

It was clear as day now, the others _had been attacked. How much time had passed since they came in? The battle marks weren't that old, maybe a few hours had passed since then, but that gives the rest of the group a huge head start. It would take even longer for him and Yolie to find the rest of the group, not to mention this forest was extremely dense and dark._

Yolie stopped her whimpering and turned her gaze towards the confused Hawkmon.

"What's the matter Hawkmon?" She asked her mind immediately switching into alert mode. She knew if her digimon sensed something was wrong, there usually was. 

"Look at this…" he mumbled pointing to a spot of burnt grass.

"Yeah so…?" Yolie walked closer to the spot and studied it. "It's just some burnt grass."

"No Yolie, look over there, and there." He pointed out the broken tree and the split in the ground, "Our friends have been here, and I don't think the welcming committee was very welcoming.

Yolie gasped in shock realizing what Hawkmon was saying. 

"Oh my god, what if they've been captured and are being held hostage?" 

Images of her friends flashed across her mind. Being chained up onto a wall by thick metal bindings and witchmon standing by laughing hysterically bearing some unmentionable torture tool.

She felt herself getting dizzy but she pulled herself together. She tried to slow down her breathing, but every time she did, those thoughts came flooding back.

"Yolie this is no time to go into hysterics." Hawkmon shouted grabbing her arm and pulling on it like a child.

"You're right!" She snapped out of her trance and shock her head vigorously, "Our friends need us!" She stormed off into the thick forest heedlessly.

"Yolie wait!" Hawkmon bellowed running after her, but his shouts fell onto deaf ears. Yolie was a highly motivated woman and once she got an image in her head the devil himself couldn't stop her.


	7. memories

Chapter 7: Memories

Chapter 7: Memories

Iris closed her eyes tightly as they were sucked into the vortex that joined the digiworld to the real world. Her hair blew about her face, itching her nose. She snapped her eyes open just in time to see the end of the tunnel. 

She fell out onto Davis with a thud and a groan. A few seconds later Cody fell out on top of her, and Melodye on top of him and so forth. She groaned from the weight on her back and the elbow in her ribs. 

"Get off me…" She heard Davis' mumbled protest. He struggled to get out from underneath the pile of people, but his efforts were in vain.

"I can't there's too many people on top of me." Iris replied. At that moment someone shifted and the air was pushed from her lungs causing her to let out a soft cry.

"Sorry guys." Ken said jumping off the mound of human bodies.

"You're crushing my leg!" Clive yelled at someone, "Ow someone just kicked me!" 

"Oh sorry that was me." TK apologized, dragging himself out from under the group. Because of this shift of weight the group went tumbling over each other, leaving Iris lying on Davis back. She quickly realized the position she was in and jumped off him, standing on his arm in the process.

"Ow dammit!" He cursed sitting up and rubbing his arm.

"Oh god I'm sorry." Iris said kneeling down next to him, "You're not hurt are you?"

"No I just got my arm crushed, but it doesn't hurt." He retorted sarcastically. 

"Oh get over it Davis you're such a cry baby." Kari said helping Iris up.

"No I'm not." He pouted standing up and rubbing his arm.

"Yeah Davis isn't a cry baby, you're the cry baby." Veemon said poking his tongue out at Kari.

"Guy's we don't have time to fight, lets just go." Cody said.

"He's right, we won't get anything done if we just sit around and fight." TK agreed.

"Yeah lets go!" Davis shouted, but his enthusiasm soon changed. He scanned the group, obviously deep in thought, "Hold no a second. Add three carry add the four." He mumbled pointing to each of the group members, "We're missing someone." The group looked about in confusion.

"Yolie." Cody pointed out, "Yolie's not here, we must've left her behind."

"What did she just decide she didn't want to come into the digiworld today?" Davis asked.

"Well she was there when we were at the gate, but I don't know why she didn't follow us." Ken said thoughtfully.

"That's strange usually Yolie's really excited about going into the digiworld." TK said, scratching his chin as if he were rubbing a beard.

Ken spun around urgently, studying the thick forest behind him. A soft rustling noise came from behind him, followed by a low growling noise. He peered into the brush trying to see what was making those noises, but the forest was too thick and black, he could barely see on meter into it.

"What's the matter Ken?" Wormmon asked looking out into the forest as Ken was, "Is there something there?" 

"I don't know Wormmon, I thought I heard something, but I'm not sure." He turned around to face the group once again. And once again there was a soft rustle behind him. 

He looked over to the rest of the group; they were absorbed in their arguments. He seemed to be the only one who could hear it. He concentrated on the surrounding sounds, blocking out the sounds of the others fighting. There it was again. He heard a low grumble come from his left. He snapped his head in that direction, his eyes carefully studying the blackness. He caught sight of a pale purple, almost black light. It was very hard to see, but it was there. 

"Umm guys," Ken tried, keeping his eyes locked on the purple light. "Guys."

But they were oblivious to his calls.

"Ken it's not working." Wormmon informed him.

"Guys!" He shouted taking his eyes off the light to face the group.

Everyone fell silent at his outbreak. That was the first time Ken had shouted in ages.

"What is it Ken?" Davis asked walking over closer to his friend.

"There's something out there." He replied searching the dense forest with his eyes.

Davis stared at Ken's back a look of amused confusion written across his face.

"I think you've just gone a little crazy man." Davis slapped him on the back, "You know, you can survive without Yolie."

"What?" Ken stared at Davis in shock. His face had gone a bright crimson red, 

"It-it's not that, there's something out there."

"Then why are you blushing?" He asked smirking.

"I-I…" Ken started pathetically. He stopped when he saw the look of utter horror on Davis face. He knew what was behind him but he dreaded turning around. His body tensed, as a cold shiver ran down his spine.

"Ken." Davis spat out, staring past him as he slowly backed away, "I hate to point out the obvious but there's something behind you!" 

He gasped in shock at what Ken knew was the intruder's deathblow. He wanted to move, to jump out of the way, but his body was frozen. He told his legs to move, but they just didn't respond. He heard a small cry, somewhere in the deep in the back of his mind, but so many fearful thoughts ran through his mind that he barely took any notice.

The next thing he knew he was flying through the air at a high speed. He snapped out of his trance and looked around himself. 

"Are you okay Ken?" He heard Stingmon's familiar voice. He looked up at his savior in gratitude.

"How many times is that now?" He asked smiling up at his digipartner.

**

"Veemon digivolve to… Exveemon." Veemon stepped out of a familiar column of light that came with the digivolving process. Ankylomon, Arquillamon, Angemon, Megapolarmon and Bakemon joined him shortly after. 

"That's the way, now to kick some digi-butt!" Davis yelled enthusiastically. 

The digimon all simultaneously shot their attacks at the huge black spider like digimon.

"What is that thing anyway?" Iris inquired.

"That's Dokugumon, she's really bad and _really ugly." Davis replied not taking his eyes off the battle._

Dokugumon managed to guard against some of the attacks, but one of them managed to get through, knocking it down and disabling one of it's eight huge hairy legs. This enraged it, it's multiple eyes burned with a black purple rage. It let out a piercing cry and charged straight for Exveemon. 

It lunged at him with surprising agility for an overgrown spider. He tried in vain to dodge the oncoming body slam but was too slow. One of the huge spider's legs knocked him out of the air and was sent crashing to the ground. He landed painfully but managed to stay as Exveemon and not de-digivolve. 

Unfortunately Dokugumon had chosen him for it's next meal. It landed on top of him; it's legs acting as a cage to keep him from escaping, even if he could. It stared down at him with its ten black eyes; he could almost detect a sort of mocking glint to them. 

It bent down bearing it's huge yellow fangs dripping with black venom. He had to dodge the stray bit of poison that dripped off its fangs, as it acted as an acid. He jumped out of the way of one such droplet and watched as it burned the grass where it had landed. He certainly didn't want that to happen to him.

"Um guys," He said, keeping his eyes on the fangs so as not to get caught off guard, "I could use a little help."

"Come on guys we have to help Exveemon!" Angemon said immediately acting on his words, "Hand of fate." He yelled pulling his fist back. 

A ball of white light surrounded his fist steadily growing bigger as moved in for the attack. He unleashed his holy attack sending the ball hurtling towards Dokugumon. It hit Dokugumon hard on its back but seemed to have no effect. 

"Let me try." Polarmon shouted she jumped in between the spider's legs and shot her attack straight up at its abdomen. It screamed in pain as the huge icicles polarmon shot sunk into its soft underbelly.

"Wow how did you know that was it's weak spot?" Ankylomon asked jumping in next to her and swinging his spiked tail up, pushing the icicles in further.

"You gotta know these things." She yelled back at him, "Hey you guys!" She shouted at Bakemon, Arquillamon and Angemon, "Attack her legs, we'll get her stomach."

They immediately followed her instructions shooting their attacks at the spider's huge long legs.

**

"Melodye let me help!" Flamon pleaded with her digipartner, bouncing up and down to exaggerate her point. 

"No Flamon you're too small you can't fight." Melodye said picking up the energetic little ball, "You can't digivolve yet."

"I know but I can still do something!" She said squirming in Melodye's arms, "I have to help him, let me go." She slipped out of Melodye's grasp and bounced over to Dokugumon.

"No Flamon, don't go." Melodye called after her. 

She went to run after her digipartner but was grabbed roughly from behind. She was hauled painfully off the ground by the ribs and was soon flying over her friends. She looked up at her captor, a huge black, purple bird, with really big teeth had grabbed her with it's huge claws and was lifting her up into the air.

"Help me!" She shouted down to her surprised friends, but they just stood there gawking at her.

"Melodye!" She heard Flamon shout, "Melodye hold on, I'll save you!" 

With those few words Melodye's Digivice began to glow a blinding white light. A beam of that light shot down towards Flamon, surrounding her with its golden glow.

"Flamon digivolve to…" Time seemed to stop as the light grew brighter and Flamon began to change. She started to grow bigger, forming the shape of a small red bird, "Nichimon." She finished proudly.

Without even thinking Nichimon was in the air chasing after Melodye's kidnapper. 

She heard a shout behind her and turned to see what it was. There were two other birds exactly the same carrying two of their friends, just like Melodye. She didn't see who it was because she turned her attention back to her partner Melodye. 

"Help me Nichimon." She pleaded hanging helplessly from the bird's claws. 

"Hold on." She called flapping her wings as fast as she could to keep up with the huge bird. 

"Flame wings!" She shouted. Two balls of fire flew from her wings and hit the digimon on the back. It didn't have any effect whatsoever; the bird just shrugged it off and continued flying.

"Melodye!" Nichimon called, "It's too strong for me, I can't even hurt it." 

"Nichimon follow it, you can do it, I know you can." Melodye shouted back reaching her free hand out brushing it against Nichimon's fiery feathers.

**

Clive watched in shock as two huge birds flew don't, grabbing Cody and Gatomon in the process. Only moments before the same thing had happened to the red haired American girl, one had come down and simply snatched her off the ground. 

"Cody!" Ankylomon yelled noticing as his partner was lifted from the ground and taken away.

"Gatomon!" Kari called after her friends. She started running after the birds, but TK held her back.

"Kari, its no use, well just get lost in the forest." He said.

"Well do something!" She broke out of his grip, but didn't run any further. She watched helplessly as the huge birds carried off her best friend.

"Angemon, we need your help." TK yelled keeping his eyes on his friends, "You need to armor digivolve."

"Um could you just hold on one second." Angemon replied, wrestling with one of Dokugumon's legs, "I'm kind of busy."

"That's it I've had enough of this!" Davis yelled stepping forward, "Ken lets go!" He stood there for a moment then cautiously looked around himself.

"Uh Ken?" He spun around on his heel, looking around the surrounding brush for any signs of his friend.

"Right!" He heard coming from the forest. His digivice started glowing, as did Ken's who had shown up out of the forest on Stingmon's back.

"Exveemon." Exveemon yelled jumping out from under Dokugumon.

"Stingmon." Stingmon yelled flying over closer to Exveemon.

"DNA digivolve to…" They were both surrounded by the digivices holy white light as they digivolved together. When the light faded standing in the place of the both of them was the huge armor cover dragon Paildramon.

"Paildramon." It finished. 

It immediately jumped into action flying through Dokugumon's legs and positioning itself under its stomach. It braced itself on the ground and effortlessly picked the giant spider up. He flew up in the air over the tops of the tall trees. Everybody craned their necks back to see where Paildramon had disappeared to but the midday sun shone brightly shielding him from sight. 

What they did see though was not what they expected. A large shadow blocked the sun, allowing them clear vision of what was coming towards them. They all yelled and jumped out of the way as the huge Dokugumon came crashing to the ground. It let out a painful cry as it landed blood and acid flowing freely from it's many cuts. It writhed in pain for a few more seconds before falling still. Bakemon floated carefully over to it and prodded it with a stick it had picked up.

"Bakemon!" Clive yelled at his digimon, "That's disgusting." Bakemon backed away and changed back into Wraithmon. As she did it slowly started to dissolve into data and disappearing into the sky.

"Alright way to go Paildramon!" Davis yelled running over to the huge dragon. It began to glow once again, but this time it shrunk into two small balls.

"We don't have time to celebrate Davis, we need to find the others!" TK yelled searching the sky.

"Angemon can you armor digivolve?"

"I'll try." He easily changed back into Patamon.

"Digi armor energize." TK yelled holding out his D3. 

"Patamon armor digivolve to…" Patamon started feeling the digivices warm light around him. 

The digivice gave him strength, and with that he started to change. First his legs grew bigger, large wings sprouted from his back. Followed by golden armor fixing itself around his body. 

"Pegasusmon, flying hope." He said once the digivolving process had completed. TK jumped on his back as he took off into the sky.

Kari ran after them for a moment, tears filling her eyes. 

"Take me too." She pleaded, but they were already in the sky and out of earshot.

"It's alright Kari, I'm sure well find them." Iris comforted her. 

**

"Ha, Ha your evilness." Black Gatomon stared into Witchmon's crystal ball, her eyes lit up with a feline joy, "It worked, the plan went off without a hitch."

Witchmon sat next to her a malicious grin plastered on her face.

"This is perfect, now that I've got those kids out of the way I can fulfill my plan to take over the digiworld." She cackled happily.

"Just remember mistress, not to underestimate these kids. They are powerful." Gatomon said not taking her eyes off the ball.

"I know, but once they fall into our next trap they'll be helpless." 

Gatomon shifted her attention to Witchmon. She was staring at the ball with a childish delight. 

Gatomon knew they would not prevail, she had grown up on the story of how that digidestined brought ruin to anyone that tried to destroy the digiworld. It had something to do with the things they called digivices. They were a preserver of the white light, and therefor a weapon against evil and darkness. 

She had seen once in a book in the library the legend of the white light. How in the beginning, when the world was first being made all the worlds were connected. The digiworld, the human world, the dark world the light world, and a few others she couldn't remember, they were all joined together. 

There was a mighty kingdom that ruled over all the worlds. She couldn't remember the name of that either but she saw a picture of it in the same book. 

It was a magnificent place; all digimon and humans lived in peace together. And the palace was a sight to be seen; constructed by the most talented architects in all worlds the palace was made of pure diamond. In the sunlight the many peaks that adorned the palace would glow with the colors of the rainbow. 

The king of this land was part human and part Nilkan, or something like that. 

The Nilkan's were the people of light, the mightiest of all the seven worlds. 

Now the king, he also was someone to be remembered. 'The kindest, most gentle man to ever grace the seven worlds' was what the book had said. To her though he just seemed like some soppy old man. They say he ruled the seven worlds with a firm but gentle hand. 

One day, as the legend has it, the Nilkan's offered the king a gift. It was a stone that shone with the light of the Nilkan people. They say it had magical powers that healed people's wounds and so on, so everyone in the kingdom worshipped it. It was the last light of those people that ever shone. 

As the legend goes, the ruler of the dark world got jealous. Because the dark world was not really considered part of the kingdom, even though the leader held a seat in the council, they still didn't consider it part of them. The leader of the dark world, Lucavi, or something was enraged with the Nilkan's, the king favored them and he found it very unfair. He spent many years plotting the destruction of the Nilkan's. 

And one day it happened. Over the years he had formed an army that could challenge even that of the king. He caught the Nilkan's by surprise, and being a peaceful race, they did not have the resources to fight back. They were crushed in a matter of days; Many Nilkan's were killed or taken hostage. 

Once he had destroyed them, he moved on to the kingdom. He wreaked havoc among the peaceful kingdom, bringing it to ruins, despite the king's attempts to fight back. His henchmen burned and destroyed what ever they could leaving the kingdom broken and defenseless.

Lucavi killed the king and took the throne. His tyranny lasted for many years, that was until they interfered. In those years each world had chosen one or two of their best warriors to fight against the evil tyrant. They rose up against him in a mighty battle for freedom. 

They managed to beat him, but they couldn't kill him, for he was immortal. They used all their powers to seal him away in limbo, but it wasn't enough. So in order to seal him away they had to use all the help they could get. All seven worlds lent the destined their powers and in doing that they succeeded in locking away the evil fiend forever. 

Unfortunately to keep him in there the worlds had to break apart, and form a sort of wall around the limbo like a box, sealing him in there. 

After that had been recorded no more was ever said about the magnificent kingdom or those ten warriors that brought the tyrant's rule to an end. All worlds lost contact, though it was rumored that there was a passage, a way to get from one to the other, it's just that nobody's ever found it. 

Maybe these kids were the warriors, why else would they be carrying digivices, or light preservers? Even thought there are only nine of them and there was ten warriors, they just have to be. 

"Mistress Gatomon." She heard the small scared voice of one of her minion digimon. She shook her head getting those thoughts out of her head. There was no way those digidestined could survive her brilliant plan.

"Are the preparations ready?" She asked jumping off Witchmon's shoulder and running up to the shivering Numemon.

"Uh- um yes mistress Gatomon." It stuttered.

"Which direction are they heading?" 

"South east, mistress." 

"Beautiful, make sure everything's perfect, I will not have those digidestined get in my way you hear?" She asked poking the slimy digimon with one of her long claws. It squealed and backed away, shielding itself from her.

"Yes mistress Gatomon." It said hysterically.

"Now get out of my sight." She said turning her back on it and walking back over to he throne.

"Yes your evilness." It said backing out of the room.

"Are you sure this is going to work Gatomon?" Witchmon asked letting Gatomon back up on to her shoulder.

"Of course I know its going to work, I bet right at this moment they're in hysterics, they're falling apart by the seems."

**

"Did you see them?" Kari yelled running over to TK and Pegasusmon, "Did you see Gatomon?" 

TK let out a long sigh, avoiding eye contact with Kari,

"We couldn't see them anywhere, those black Birdramon's were too fast, and even if they dropped them, the forest is too thick I couldn't wee anything."

Kari's eyes started to fill up with tears at the news. She sniffed once, trying to keep her tears at bay.

"What if something happens to her?" She said staring past TK into the forest.

"Don't worry Kari, she'll be okay, we've been through worse and we've always gotten out of it." TK said wrapping his arms around her, letting her cry onto his shirt.

"I hope she's alright." Kari sobbed.

Davis glared at TK's back, that should be him there comforting Kari. He had to put a stop to this.

"Well we're not gonna find her by just standing here, lets go look for them." 

"Davis you're so insensitive." TK scalded.

"No he's right," Kari said pulling away from TK and drying her eyes with the back of her hand, "We're not going to get anything accomplished by just standing here." 

"That's the way, crying isn't gonna solve anything." Davis said slapping Kari on the back.

He led Kari into the forest, the same direction the Birdramon had gone. He turned around to face TK, a mocking look of satisfaction in his eyes. TK just rolled his eyes and followed after them.

**

Cody held on tightly to the Birdramon's claws. Even though he wanted to go back to his friends, or at least get back on the ground; he didn't want to fall down. He pulled his eyes away from the forest below, trying his best to clear his mind. He saw the Birdramon in front of him, next to it was another smaller red bird. That must be Melodye's digimon, but why was she just following the other bird, why wasn't she trying to save Melodye. 

He then turned to the Birdramon behind him. In its claws was a struggling Gatomon. He hadn't really had time to see who else the Birdramon caught, but now. Why had it taken Gatomon and not one of the people? She looked up and saw Cody looking at her.

"Cody!" She called, "We have to get down." 

"I know, but how?" He called back.

"Call for Melodye!" She yelled, "Get Nichimon!"

Cody nodded his head and turned back to the other Birdramon.

"Melodye!" He shouted at the top of his lungs. For a moment nothing happened, but she then turned around, "Get Nichimon!"

She knotted her eyebrows in confusion.

"What?" She yelled to him.

"Get Nichimon!" She still didn't understand but luckily Nichimon did. She slowed down and waited for Cody's ride to catch up. 

"What is it." She asked, now flying parallel with Cody. 

"Gatomon." He said pointing behind him with his free hand.

She slowed down again until Gatomon's Birdramon caught up with her. He watched them for a moment while they conversed. He couldn't hear what they were saying but he knew what Gatomon's plan was.

A moment later Nichimon flew up and faced the Birdramon head on. She stared it in the eye for a second then without notice shot her attack straight at it's face. It howled in pain and swooped down closer to the trees, yet it didn't let gatomon go. 

Nichimon did the same thing again, shooting the black Birdramon in the face. This time however it started ascending into the sky. It didn't seem to notice the Birdramon holding Cody and ran straight into it. The bird holding Cody screamed in rage and rammed the other. Gatomon's Birdramon was enraged. It flew high in the sky and shot it's meteor wing attack at the bird holding Cody. Seeing the other Birdramon's attack come flying towards it, the other Birdramon dodged it. 

The two fiery balls soared closely past Cody's head, nearly singing his clothes and hair, and slamming into the back of the Birdramon holding Melodye. 

It stopped in mid flight and turned around to face the other two birds. It stared at them for a moment before unleashing it's own attack. The attack was sent flying towards Cody's Birdramon. It quickly forgot about him and dropped him into the forest below.

It shot it's own attack back at that same Birdramon. Melodye's Birdramon also dropped its burden and concentrated on fighting the assaulting Birdramon. The Birdramon carrying Gatomon watched on as they battled it out against each other. It too decided it would join in. quickly forgetting about Gatomon it dropped her into the forest and joined in the death match.

**

Cody awoke with a sharp throbbing in the back of his head. He sat up, but immediately regretted it. His head spun like vertigo, he felt like he was going to throw up. He groaned and lay back down, rubbing his temples trying to lessen the pounding in his brain.

"Are you okay?" He heard Melodye ask. 

He slowly opened his eyes, letting them adjust to the darkness. He stared at bright blue eyes for a moment before everything went black.

He awoke again, this time his mind was a little clearer. His head still pounded, but now it was just an annoying throbbing in the back of his head.

"You're awake." This time he heard the familiar voice of Gatomon. He sat up and shook his head. The pain intensified with this action, but he managed to ignore it.

"Where are we?" He asked her, looking around at the surrounding terrain.

"I don't know." Gatomon said, following his eyes with hers. 

That much was obvious, of course she didn't know where they were. The only thing Cody could see on every side of him was trees, and they all looked the same. It was also terribly dark, he could only see what the small fire next to him allowed, it if wasn't for that he wouldn't be able to see anything.

"Where's Melodye?" He asked facing Gatomon again.

"She's gone to find food with Flamon. They should be back soon." 

"How long have I been out?" He asked rubbing his head again.

"The good part of two hours at least." She replied staring into the fire. 

He could tell that she was worried about their friends, especially Kari. He wondered himself what armadillomon was doing right now, he hoped that he wasn't in trouble. 

There was a soft rustling in the bush to the left of them. Gatomon's ears pricked up and her body tensed, but her eyes didn't leave the fire. Cody stood up, trying to see in the dim light who or what was out there. 

Cody could honestly say that he'd never been this scared before. Apart from maybe that time when they were stuck in that underwater reactor. That was scary, but at least then he had armadillomon to protect him. In fact the only digimon that could digivolve was Melodye's digimon, Flamon, but even then she only digivolved into rookie. So if they were attacked the only person who could really help them was Gatomon.

The rustling got louder as it got closer. Cody lent down and picked up the biggest stick he could find and held it out in front of him, the way his grandpa taught him.

"Don't worry Cody." Gatomon said looking at him with a hint of amusement, "It's just Melodye."

At that moment Melodye and Flamon appeared in the circle of light. She flashed him a big grin.

"You're awake." She observed, "We just went to get some food." She held up a crude basket, made by bits of long grass weaved together. He dropped the stick he was holding and sat down again.

"How did you know it was Melodye?" He asked Gatomon.

"Listen Cody," Was all she said.

"Listen to what, I don't hear anything."

"Exactly, nothing lives in this forest."

She was right, he noticed now that there was nothing. No trees moved, no crickets chirped. The only sound was the crackling of the small fire he sat next to.

This made him even more apprehensive. If nothing dared live in this forest that means a great evil must be somewhere nearby. 

Maybe it was Witchmon. Maybe her hideout was near here. If they were to stumble upon that now they'd be toast. He wished the others were here, especially Armadillomon. But he knew he had to be strong, the fate of the digiworld once again lay on his shoulders. 

He took a deep breath and sighed letting his shoulders sag.

"Kari I hope you're alright." He heard Gatomon whisper.

He could only imagine what she was thinking right now. Her partner, the person she was supposed to protect, wasn't here. And there was no way they could find them now.

**

"Kari I hope you're alright." Gatomon whispered to herself. 

How was she ever supposed to find Kari? This forest was huge, and dark, and there was no way she could digivolve without Kari. She stared into the fire, although the light hurt her sensitive eyes she couldn't pull away from it. There was something about bonfires that made you remember. Made you remember things you longed to forget, or things you had forgotten over time.

Memories of Wizardmon came flooding back into Gatomon's head. How she wished he were here right now. He was the best friend, apart from Kari, that she ever had. 

She remembered one time, back when she worked for Myotismon; they had played a practical joke on that stupid flying ball DemiDevimon. When he was sleeping they had dyed all his feathers bright pink, and hung all sorts of jewelry off his wings. 

Now DemiDevimon, being the stupid bowling ball he was didn't notice when he woke up. Which was exactly what they had planned. Every digimon in the vicinity was in tears with laughter. She thought she even saw a smirk on Myotismon's face, but if there was one it was gone in a flash. 

He spent weeks trying to remove the dye from his feathers. He also refused to go out and do his job. Which was at the time trying to steal the digidestineds' crests. Myotismon was furious, he sentenced DemiDevimon to three weeks of cleaning the bathrooms, which was pretty bad. 

They had laughed in his face the whole time. That's obviously why he didn't like her very much. She couldn't blame him, if someone had done that to her she'd slice them up like an onion. 

She let out a small giggle at the memory, but it quickly faded. Why did he have to die? Even though she had Kari now, there's nothing that can fill the void that comes with losing your best friend. 

She could feel the tears start to burn the corner of her eyes. She willed them to stop, but it was futile. Every time she thought about Wizardmon, good or bad, she started crying. She sniffed once but managed to keep her tears at bay. 

'Don't cry Gatomon'

Gatomon's head snapped up, her eyes scanning the area. 

"Wizardmon?" She hesitantly asked.

'Gatomon don't cry.' She heard his voice echo again. She looked around again carefully; not even noticing the questioning glances her companions gave her. 

"Where are you Wizardmon?" She asked standing up.

'I'm here in spirit Gatomon, you can't see me, but I'm here.'

"Wizardmon I miss you so much." She said out loud, her tears now spilling out of her eyes and running down her furry cheek.

'I miss you too Gatomon' his voice echoed across her mind.

"Wizardmon I'm so lonely without you." She sniffed, choking back a sob.

'Don't be like that Gatomon, you've got Kari." His voice consoled her.

"Why can't you come back Wizardmon, I need you here." She said, her body shaking with sobs.

She knew the answer to that it was simple. He couldn't come back because he was dead. Dead people don't just come back, at least not in the human world. How could humans live like this? All this pain and grief, how can they live with it? 

'I am here gatomon, I may not be here in body but I'm here in soul.' 

"That's not enough!" she yelled, "I want you to be here with me, so I can touch you!"

'Gatomon you have to control your self. You have to realize that sometimes things die, Kari will someday you have to learn to live with it.'

"That's easy for you to say, you haven't lost your best friend!" 

'Yes I have, you think just because I'm dead I don't feel? Gatomon you're my best friend and not being able to be with you tears me apart. My soul is trapped in the human world I can't get reconfigured. But just being able to watch over you is enough. So just remember gatomon, no matter how lonely you get I'll always be here with you.'

His voice started to fade and Gatomon knew that his time here was up. She had thought up a million things that she wanted to say to him the next time she talked to him. But right now she couldn't think of any of them. The only thing she could think to say in the short amount of time she had left was.

"I love you Wizardmon." 

She waited for a reply, but none came. She could once again feel tears well up in her eyes. She remembered what Wizardmon had told her, and tried her best to stop them.

"I won't cry anymore Wizardmon," She whispered, wiping her eyes with the back of her paw, "I promise."


	8. If I Were to Kill...

Chapter 8: If I Were to Kill…

Chapter 8: If I Were to Kill…

"Hey you know what," Iris said, "I just realized, your clothes change when you come into the digiworld."

Iris and Davis lead the team of digidestined through the thick forest. They had been trudging through the brush for over two hours now and everyone was really tired. No one spoke out though, they all wanted to find the others as fast as possible. 

Iris tried her best to cheer the others up, especially Kari, but sometimes you just didn't want to be cheered up, and now was one of them times. The only person that would talk to her was Davis. Only when he wasn't trying to cheer up Kari though. 

Now was one of them times. She felt like they were the only things alive in this whole forest. She had noticed that apart from the crackling the leaves made when someone stood on them, the forest was dead silent. This made their voices sound louder then they actually were, but she didn't mind. These awkward silences always made her feel well awkward and the only way to stop that was to talk.

"Yeah I know isn't it cool, and they still fit me after all these years!" Davis replied tugging on the sleeves of his jacket.

"How long ago did you last come in here?" 

"I don't know, about four or so years. I have a photo of us back then." He said childish happiness ringing through his voice.

He fiddled with his goggles for a moment them pulled out a small square photo.

"Convenient." Iris said grabbing the photo off him. 

She stared at the photo for a while, taking in all the information. They all looked pretty much the same. TK didn't wear that dorky looking hat now, instead his messy hair just hung about his head. Davis hadn't changed at all. He still wore the same goggles, his hair still looked like he had just rolled out of bed, and he still had that childish gleam to his eyes making them seen brighter then they should have.

Kari looked different though. She looked a lot more mature now. Her hair had grown longer and now hung down around her ears. Around her neck, instead of the camera that was there in the photo, there now hung a small solid silver love heart pendant. 

Cody was still shorter than everybody else, making him seem younger then he really is. Also his hair had been cut shorter, in an attempt to make himself look older. But in spite of all that, in his eyes was maturity that far outweighed his looks.

Iris was surprised at how little Yolie had changed. She still had those huge oversized glasses and helmet. Her hair had grown still longer and now hung down at her waist. Ken also didn't seem to look much different. He had kept his long girly hair, and the serious look plastered on his face hadn't lifted.

"I look the best in that photo." Davis gloated. 

She glanced at him in amusement. At the time the photo had been taken he had been pushed or had fallen or something and it had caught him in mid fall. The others was all looking at him and laughing. 

"Oh yeah." She agreed mockingly.

"What you don't think I look good?" He snatched the photo off her. And looked at it closely. His face turned a light shade of pink as he studied the small square, "Oh no wonder, wrong picture." 

He once again fiddled with his goggles for a moment then pulled another, slightly bigger photo out. Iris immediately snatched it off him and looked at it closely. It was another photo, almost exactly the same. Except this time Davis wasn't falling over, he was holding Demiveemon while giving the camera a thumbs up, a huge grin plastered on his face.

"See don't I look the best!" He gloated.

"You know I've heard of this." Iris said surrendering the photo to Davis, who looked at it with great pride.

"Heard of what?" He asked, half interested.

"This, its called vanity, am I right."

"Who are you calling vain?" He yelled struggling to replace the photo behind his goggles.

"You, I've never seen anyone love themselves as much as you do."She said ignoring Davis glare.

"I was only joking." He mumbled. 

He was rewarded with a small giggle from behind him. He spun around angrily, facing the person who dared laugh at him. He was met with Kari's beautiful face; he lips turned up in the smile he loved so much. He immediately forgot his rage and started laughing along with her.

"She's right Davis, I've never seen anyone love themself so much." She giggled.

Davis forgot the harshness of those words and basked in Kari's happiness. He hated seeing her sad, he do anything to make her happy, even if it meant throwing away his pride for a while. She's was so beautiful, her smile, her eyes. He melted every time he saw her.

**

Clive glared up the front at Davis as he turned around to face a laughing Kari. He really hated that _boy. And he stressed the word boy because no one but a boy could be so immature. The way he thought only about himself made Clive sick to the stomach. How could someone be so… annoying? _

Clive stopped for a minuet to catch his breath. He bent over, placing the palms of his hands on his knees to support himself. He sucked in the damp air trying to slow down his heartbeat. They had been trudging through this stinking bush for the good part of two hours, without any stops and Clive was getting very tired. 

He watched as the rest of the group effortlessly picked their way over and under trees, bushes, vines and god knows what else. They didn't even notice he had stopped. Wraithmon appeared next to him and patted him on the back. 

"Come on Clive, not long now." Wraithmon said.

"I can't take this anymore Wraithmon." He gasped through breaths; "We need to stop." 

Wraithmon looked at him in pity. The poor human, she sometimes forgot they had to sleep and eat. Those things didn't matter to her, she didn't need to sleep or eat. She was merely a spirit and never got tired. But she still needed to take it easy when it came to fighting. She noticed digivolving took up energy that she didn't even know she had. So she could sympathize with Clive, he needed to rest, so she'd do anything she could to allow him to rest.

"Hold on I minuet." She said, and disappeared before Clive's eyes.

Once his heartbeat had returned to normal he started off, picking his way through the crude trail the rest of the group had left. When he reached them they had all turned around, as if they were waiting for him. 

"Are you tired Clive?" TK asked.

He stared at him in embarrassment his cheeks turning red, redder than they already were. His gaze soon turned to wraithmon, who just floated about Davis head, waiting patiently for the answer she knew would come

"Well?" TK prodded.

"Come to think of it I'm pretty tired myself." Iris said.

"We can't stop yet!" Davis yelled enthusiastically, "We still have to find he others."

"No Davis Clive is right, there's no use going any further now. It's getting dark and we won't be able to see anything soon." TK said 

"He's right, we should look for a way to get home." Ken agreed.

"NO." Kari shouted determination glowing in her eyes; "We're not going home until we find Gatomon."

"But Kari we have to stop, our digimon are wasted." TK tried reasoning with her. Pointing to the pooped patamon next to him.

"I know, we can stop but I'm not leaving the digiworld until we find them."

"Phew." Veemon sighed, "I was getting really tired, I thought we'd never stop." 

Armadillomon sighed along with Veemon. But this wasn't a sigh of relief. He stood at the front of the group scanning the forest with his eyes. Where was Cody, and when were they going to find him? 

He looked back at the group impatiently. What are they bickering about? He caught enough of the conversation to hear the words 'we can stop but…' his heart instantly sank. They didn't have time to stop; they had to find Cody. What if he was in trouble? What if they'd run into Witchmon? What if… He had to stop this train of thought. 

He shook his head and walked back over to the group. 

"Okay then it's settled we'll find a spot to camp for the night." He heard TK say. 

"Um TK," He grabbed hold of TK's pants and started pulling on them, "Why are we stopping, we need to find Cody." 

"Armadillomon, I'm sorry we have to stop now. I know how much you want to find Cody but everyone's tired, and it'll be getting dark very soon. We'll find them tomorrow I promise."

TK knew he couldn't keep that promise. It might very well be days, even weeks before they found them. He shook his head trying to get those thoughts out of his mind. He had the crest of hope; he had to hope for the best. It's no good thinking like that; they'd never find them with an attitude like that. He had to hope for the best, and share that hope with the rest of the team. 

He nodded his head in conviction. 

"We will find them." He whispered to himself.

**

The small bonfire crackled loudly, loudly compared to the quiet stillness of the forest. Melodye positioned herself next to it, basking in its warmth. She lost herself in the orange flow, blocking out her companion's conversation. Soon everything fell silent as the four of them stared into the fire. 

There was something about fire that brought Melodye peace. It wasn't that she like setting things on fire. Like this one kid she had know back in America. It brought her peace in a different way. She felt like she belonged, belonged with the fire. The sort of comforting feeling that you have when you get home after being away for a long time.

She couldn't really explain it. She technically should be scared of the fire, but she wasn't. She had been caught in a burning building when she was younger. She remembered the feeling of the flames licking at her skin. The intense heat. Yet she couldn't be scared. She wasn't even scared back then.

She raised her head and glanced at her friends. Cody was staring into the fire. His eyes glazed over slightly as if he were deep in thought. Gatomon was too staring into the fire, but her eyes were wet with tears. She then did something that surprised Melodye greatly. Her head snapped up as if of it's own accord. She looked around hesitantly.

"Wizardmon?" She asked the air. 

Melodye stared at her with great interest. Can she see another digimon? Melodye followed her gaze to the forest behind her. There was nothing there except darkness.

"Wizardmon where are you?" She asked again.

"Where's Wizardmon?" Cody asked being pulled from his thoughts.

"I don't know." Melodye confessed, "Who's Wizardmon?"

"Wizardmon I miss you so much." She continued, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Wizardmon is a digimon, he died in the real world so I don't know how she can be talking to him." Cody said.

"Maybe she's going insane." Melodye offered.

"Gatomon are you okay?" Cody tried, but Gatomon just ignored him.

"I'm so lonely without you."

This went on for a while. Gatomon answering questions only she could hear, through wracking sobs. Melodye and Cody watched in silence, while she spilled her soul into the night. Once she had finished she whispered something to herself and sat down as if nothing had happened.

"Are you okay Gatomon?" Cody asked carefully.

"I don't wanna talk about it." She snapped, "I'm tired I'm going to sleep." With that she rolled over and closed her eyes.

Cody and Melodye looked at each other over the fire, their eyes asking questions they daren't say aloud. Melodye shrugged and Cody sighed. They both turned their attention to the fire again.

**

"What? What do you mean they didn't make it?" Witchmon bellowed. 

Gatomon stood in front of her, her head raised to look her in the eye.

"I don't know what happened mistress, they came back, but they didn't have any digidestined." Gatomon said, "Why don't you go and look in your little crystal ball and see what happened, it'll have more answers than me."

Witchmon glared at her with her most intimidating glare. It usually sent digimon scampering away in fear, but Gatomon just glared at her back. Witchmon grumbled and looked away into her ball.

Gatomon was becoming far too rebellious these days. Giving orders without her consent. Talking back, and using her bathroom. These defiant acts had to be stopped. Maybe she'd just get rid of her along with the digidestined. 

She grumbled to herself as she conjured up and image in her crystal ball. It was an image of three black Birdramon's flying over the dark forest. They each were carrying one burden each. Next to one of them however a small red bird flew. 

She watched them for a while; everything seemed to be going as planned. That was when that little bird flew down to the last Birdramon in the line. It hit it in the face with one of its attacks. This caused it to fire an attack back, but instead of it hitting the bird, it hit the Birdramon in front of it. This set off a long chain reaction, causing the Birdramon's to drop their burdens and start fighting. 

She turned away from the ball and the image instantly disappeared. She spat on the floor in disgust. 

"Gatomon!" She bellowed. Gatomon strut into the room, a Numemon following closely behind.

"You called?" 

"Gatomon is everything set up for plan B?" 

"Mmm hmm, no need to worry, everything's under control." She said matter-of-factly.

"Good, this time I want you to take care of it personally, if you catch my meaning." Witchmon offered.

"Coming in clear as day, mistress." Gatomon replied a sly grin plastered on her face.

"I want you to destroy them as quickly as possible." Witchmon yelled, throwing Gatomon a piece of paper with a picture on it.

"And get these."

Gatomon studied the picture; it was of the digivices. They didn't look like much, just like small gadgets that you could bye at a toy store. But she knew they held great power. Power that could destroy her and every other virus digimon. She had to be careful if she was to face them head on.

She nodded her head in agreement. 

"I won't fail you."

**

TK had never considered himself a morning person. Despite his cheery disposition he was not a very pleasant person when he's woken up. He could easily sleep right through his alarm clock if it weren't right above his bed. He put it there because whenever the alarm went off it would fall down from the shelf and hit him in the head. It hadn't failed him once. 

But say, for instance, if a hysterical Davis and a huge bad digimon waked him up. He wasn't a happy little buffalo. In fact he was an enraged little buffalo. This is what happened to the unfortunate group of slumbering digidestined.

It was Davis' turn for watch, but he wasn't really watching anything. He had climbed up the closest tree and settled himself on a tree branch, veemon on his stomach. He had figured since nothing lived in this forest it was okay to doze off. Unfortunately Davis was a very heavy sleeper; once he had 'dozed off' nothing could wake him up. Except, mayhap falling from a tree. 

While Davis dozed one of Witchmon's henchmen had located the digidestineds' whereabouts. It had quietly, or as quietly as it could, snuck up on the group. When it saw Davis in the tree it's sense of mischief kicked in. Mojyamon didn't really get to see much action once he had become one of Witchmon's slaves. 

He crept up behind the tree and shook it roughly, sending Davis and Veemon hurtling to the ground. Davis woke up with a start, and upon seeing the huge yeti digimon started screaming hysterically. A half-sleeping Davis is not a good thing, as TK found out. 

He came running up to the group, his goggles long forgotten and his messy hair, even messier. He started babbling about snow men and bad digimon, his eyes glazed over as if her were still asleep. 

TK, in a grumpy, woken up mood, had had enough. He slapped Davis across the face, his morning anger fully settled in. Davis was shocked by TK's out burst; he stared into space for a moment then came to, anger blazing up in his eyes. He acted on his manly instincts and punched TK back. 

By this time they had woken up the rest of the group, and needless to say they weren't happy either. None of them even noticed the huge yeti standing patiently next to their campsite as all hell broke loose. TK and Davis were rolling around on the ground wrestling like two small children. Kari was trying her best to break them up, as was Iris. Clive watched on in amusement as they wrestled and Ken tried to warn them all about Mojyamon.

"Um guys…" He started tugging Karis' sleeve. 

It didn't work. She pulled away from him; not even noticing she had, and ran over to the two battled it out. He tried Clive, but he merely pushed him away, concentrating on the fight. 

He looked again at the amused digimon. It lent against a nearby tree, a smirk spread across its lips. It caught him looking at it and laughed.

"What are you looking at me for?" It asked him standing up away from the tree; "I didn't do anything."

Ken stared defiantly into its purple, black eyes. This made him sick. He knew what Witchmon was doing; he had tried the same thing himself. He wasn't proud of it, but it made him aware. Aware of just how things were done, and how things could be undone. 

It closed in on him, its paws raised in an offensive gesture. It emitted a low growling, a feral anger deep in its purple eyes.

"Ken!" He heard a shout from behind him. He didn't have time to turn around but he knew who it was.

"Wormmon digivolve!" As he gave the order his digivice began to glow, shaking with the power that had been released. 

Wormmon could feel the digivices power surround him as ken shouted. He knew it was his time to shine.

"Wormmon digivolve to…Stingmon!"

Stingmon instantly jumped into action. He closed in on the huge hairy digimon lighting up the small purple light on his arm and driving it into Mojyamon. It howled in pain but quickly recovered reaching for its bone and throwing it straight at Stingmon. He only barely dodged it; flying out of the way just in time.

By this time the rest of the group had been alerted of Mojyamons' presence. TK and Davis had stopped their wrestling to watch as Stingmon bravely took on the huge yeti by himself. He was going all right but it still wasn't enough. Davis stepped in.

"Hey Ken, need some help?" He yelled over to Ken. He turned around, a small smile tugging at his lips. 

"Alright." He yelled back.

"Veemon." Davis ordered, "Digivolve." He held out his digivice waiting for Veemons' reply. It never came.

He looked around him in search for his digipartner. He was no where to be found. He turned around to face the embers of the fire. There lying next to it was a sleeping Veemon, completely oblivious to everything. 

Davis ran over to him and shook him out of his slumber. Veemon glanced around him, blurry eyed and half-asleep. 

"Wha- what's going on, I was having such a nice dream. I dreamt that I was…"

"Not now Veemon, you gotta digivolve!"Davis cut him off, shaking him for emphasis. 

"But Davis… I'm too hungry." His stomach emitted a low grumble to stress his point.

"What you just ate a few hours ago!" Davis yelled.

"I know but I'm still hungry. You made us walk for hours before and berries and leaves just aren't enough. Maybe if you get me some candy or something…" Veemon clutched his stomach and looked at Davis as if he hadn't eaten for years.

Kari shook her head in pity as she watched the whole scene unfold.Davis was hopeless, was there anything he couldn't stuff up? Men are such fools.

She looked over at Iris who watched Davis with the same humor she did. Iris glanced over at her, a knowing look in her bright blue eyes. She flashed Kari a smile and pulled out her digivice.

"This is a woman's job." She stated pulling out her own digivice.

They both called out to their digimon to digivolve. The next thing Mojyamon knew he was being pounded into the ground by a flying cat and a huge polar bear. 

"That's the way Megapolarmon! You show that Mojyamon whose boss!" Iris called out to Megapolarmon as she shot two huge icicles at the Mojyamon. 

It howled in pain as it fell over, knocking down a nearby tree in the process. Everybody stopped and watched as it writhed in pain, trying to get up off the ground, but failing each time. Its eyes faded in color, turning a light blue, almost white color. 

Kari rushed over to it and kneeled down beside it. She grabbed hold of its giant paw and patted it gently.

"Are you okay?" She asked in her softest, kindest voice, "I'm sorry we had to hurt you."

It opened it's mouth as if to speak; but they were rewarded with only a soft whimpering whisper. It's whole body shook as it went into convulsions. Coughing up blood on the ground away from Kari. 

She held onto its paw tighter; giving it whatever comfort she could. It stopped coughing and drew a long raspy breath. It whispered something softly, but only Kari could hear it. She nodded her head once, tears building up in the corners of her eyes. 

She let go of its hand and stood back as it dissolved into black data and disappeared through the canopy of trees. She stared at the roof of leaves for a moment before falling to her knees, her hands covering her face.

TK and Davis were instantly at her side. She shuddered with sobs, trying her best to keep her tears at bay, but failing. 

"Kari, it's okay." TK tried to comfort her. He didn't really know what to say at this moment so he just held her shoulder and watched as she spilled her soul on the ground.

"He-he said…" She tried through sobs, "He said he was…" She broke down into powerful wracking sobs. 

She looked into TK's eyes, her own shimmering as the light reflected on her tears. Her could feel the tears building up in his eyes as well. The look in her eyes could make anyone's heart break. She looked like she had lost her best friend. Her eyes reflected sadness.

Davis broke them apart, wrapping Kari in a hug allowing her to cry openly on his shoulder. TK stared at them for a moment, but shook himself out of his trance. He looked over to the rest of the group. 

They stood watching on in confusion. Clive was barely paying any attention, nearly falling asleep where he stood. Iris stared at Davis back, her eyes filled with concern for her friend. Ken stared at the spot where Mojyamon had fallen, his eyes glazed over as if in deep thought. 

"TK…" He heard Kari mumble from Davis shirt. He spun around at her voice, instantly at her side. 

She pulled away from Davis and stood in front of TK. Her head was lowered, tears still streaming down her cheeks. Her body was ridged, her fists clenched at the side of her body. She raised her head and stared defiantly at him. 

"TK we have to get rid of Witchmon." She spat, looking past him into the forest. 

He had never heard her speak with such vehemence. It scared hem, she had never been this mad before. He didn't even know she was capable of feeling like that. She had always been level headed and rational, never had her anger got the better of her. 

He stepped back, avoiding eyes contact with her. But she stood her ground; her eyes fixed on the trees behind him.

"What did it say to you?" He asked shakily. 

"Yeah Kari you're acting really strange." Davis said in his loud obnoxious voice, stepping right in front of her and waving his hands in her face.

"It doesn't matter, what matters is we get rid of her as fast as possible." She ignored Davis attempts to get her attention.

"She's right." Ken interrupted, "I see it now."

"See what I don't see anything." Davis said again.

"She using us." He finished.

"But what would she be using us for?" Iris said walking over to the group and standing next to Kari.

"She's using us to destroy digimon." Ken replied, looking into her eyes.

Kari obviously flinched at this. Her enraged mask fading and her eyes returning back to their natural soft docile look. He glanced at every group member one at a time, taking in every detail and emotion they showed. 

"We have to stop her, we can't kill any more innocent digimon." 

What are they talking about? Iris pondered her situation. They all agreed with Kari, that they shouldn't hurt any digimon at all, even if they were attacking them. They were crazy, how were they going to defeat Witchmon if they couldn't kill? They wouldn't last two seconds out here in the digiworld. To her killing was merely a game, she had had to kill since she was eight, it was part of her now. She wouldn't have gotten this far without it.

"You right Kari, we can't kill anymore. I don't care what the consequences are; I'm not going to hurt another innocent digimon as long as I live." TK vowed.

"But you saw that thing!" Iris yelled sharing her thoughts with the group, "It attacked us first!"

"No that's not…" Ken tried but Iris quickly cut him off. 

"No you don't seem to understand, you people think you can go through life without getting some blood on your hands, but that's not the way things go! If you're going to survive in here you have to be prepared to kill." She yelled stomping on a stick causing it to snap to emphasize her point.

"Not everything is about killing." TK tried to reason with her.

"No it is all about killing!" She yelled in his face, "You have to come to terms with the fact that things are going to die, nothing lasts forever. If you don't kill your going to be killed yourself. If we hadn't stopped that Mojyamon you would all be dead."

"You're wrong, we don't have to kill, we could have just hurt it enough for it to come to its senses." Ken said.

"No, it doesn't work that way. I know this because I've lived here for nearly my whole life, I know the way things work. Witchmon, she hypnotizes her victims and the only way the spell can be broken is with death."

"I thought you said you've never fought Witchmon before." Davis said.

"I haven't, but I've ran into her slaves many times, they will not give up until either you or it are dead. "

"How could you do that?" Kari asked glaring at Iris, "how could you kill innocent digimon?"

"You don't know what its like Kari. You don't have any idea what I had to go through. Nothing is innocent when you're fighting for survival. Everything is you're enemy." She hissed at Kari, returning her glare with equal fervor.

Kari backed away from Iris, holding her hands up in front of her face as if to ward her off. Her eyes filled with tears once again. Iris glare quickly softened at the sight of her. 

How could she have said those things? These children weren't prepared for this, they wouldn't understand. They were unlike her, they're innocence was still intact. She didn't understand what it was like anymore, she had forgotten. Forgotten that not everyone is prepared to stain their hands in order to thrive. Forgotten that some people still had that light. The light that kept them apart from the monster she had become.

She knelt down next to Kari who had broken into hysterical sobs once again. She laid her hand on her shoulder, trying to get her attention. Kari glanced up at her, her eyes so full of pain and loss. 

Iris couldn't stand seeing her friend like this. Kari had so nice to her, and she didn't even know her. She had housed her when she first got to the real world, comforted her when she was down and helped her fit in with their friends. How could she betray her like that?

"I'm so sorry Kari." She said, swallowing her tears. "I guess I kind of lost it back there. I just forgot that you haven't experienced what I have, that you haven't grown up with the weight of survival on you're shoulders…"

"No you don't need to apologize." She cut her off. She stood up along with Iris, "I was just so angry at Witchmon, for the way she uses us to kill digimon. I know we have to protect the digiworld, and I know that some sacrifices will have to be made. It just, I get so upset sometimes. Why should innocent digimon die just because some idiot wants to rule the world?"

She glanced at Ken sympathetically; he just nodded his head and closed his eyes.

"That's still no excuse for me to go off like that. I guess I'm just jealous that you still have that light."

"What light?" Kari asked thinking straight to her crest.

"You know, the light that surrounds you, and the rest of you for that matter. It's the light of innocence."

"Why would it surround me?" Ken asked wringing his hands together, "I've killed innocent digimon too, and it wasn't just for survival, I did it because I'm a jerk." 

"I don't know, it doesn't matter if you've killed in the past. I'm just sorry for what I said Kari." She looked hopefully into Kari's eyes.

Kari nodded her head and hugged Iris.

"Don't worry I forgive you." Kari whispered. 

"Well now that that's over how abouts we get some shut eye?" Clive yelled from his position on the ground.

TK glared daggers at him. This disturbed even Davis.

"Hey cant you see this is a very emotional time?" He said stomping over to him.

"What? I don't care, I want to go to sleep." He lay on the hard ground on his back, his head resting on his hands for support. He stared challengingly up at Davis, as if taunting him telepathically.

"Hey buddy, I don't wanna hear it okay. Kari's a very sensitive person and I don't want her hurt because of your insensitivity."

"Oh I'm scared, what are you gonna do loverboy hit me?" He made pathetic hand gestures up at Davis; his eyes still locked on him.

"Why you…" He growled pulling his leg back ready to kick him. 

Clive stared up at him, the same taunting look in his eyes. He didn't even flinch, didn't even try to defend himself from the oncoming attack.

"Is that the best you can do?" Clive chided. 

"Stop it Davis." Iris ran over to his and grabbed hold of his arm.

"But he's being insensitive." Davis pleaded allowing Iris to pull him away, his eyes never leaving Clives, their telepathic battle still raging. Iris grabbed his chin and turned his face around so he could meet her eyes.

"That doesn't matter, Kari's over it." She motioned towards Kari, who was watching them, her eyes begging him to stop, "Just forget about him, you let him get to you too easy. If you just ignore him, you wouldn't be in this situation."

Davis sighed and pulled away from Iris. He glanced over to Kari, who too sighed in relief. Iris was right, Kari didn't want him to hurt anyone. She was too nice a person; she wouldn't want anyone to be hurt especially because of her. 

That's why he loved her so much. She was so kind, and loving, she would give everything just so there would be peace once again. Unlike that stupid insensitive Clive. 

Davis shifted his gaze over to Clive. He was still looking up at him with that same mocking gaze. It made his blood boil. He could tell he wasn't going to become friends with this kid very soon. 


	9. Recapture

Chapter 9: Recapture

Chapter 9: Recapture

"Hawkmon… Hawkmon can we stop now my feet hurt and I'm hungry." Yolie whined stumbling through the underbrush of the thick forest. 

They had been searching for the others all day and night but they still hadn't found anyone. Yolie was tired and grumpy and she could almost strangle Hawkmon. He was the one who made her walk for so long. He said that if they stopped they'd lose the trail, or that the other guys could keep going and it would take even longer for them to find them. 

Well to her these things didn't matter anymore. Sure it worked at first when she had wanted to find her friends, but now she really couldn't care if they'd been eaten by a giant man eating Numemon. All she wanted to do was sit down and rest her weary feet, and get something to eat while she was there, and something to drink.

Yolie slipped off into another fantasy of tables laden with food. Fried chicken over here and rice balls over there. She swore it was so real she could've actually eaten one of those delicious sushi rolls. And Ken was there as well; he was there with a couch. A couch she could sit on and rest, and watch her soap operas. 

She was woken up from her daydream when she tripped over a large tree root and fell face first into the dirt. She pulled herself up and wiped her face with her hands. She ran the backs of her fists over her eyes, her glasser-less eyes. She grumbled some rather unladylike words and got down on her knees to search for them.She searched for what seemed like forever in the moist forest air. 

"Hawkmon!" She screamed, "Hawkmon help me find my glasses!" 

"You mean these ones?" She glanced up at the fussy red blob in front of her. She snatched her glasses off Hawkmon and replaced them back on her face. 

"You know if you weren't so clumsy this wouldn't have happened." Hawkmon said staring into her now focused eyes.

Yolie growled at Hawkmon climbing to her feet.

"This is your fault!" She yelled at him.

"How is this my fault, you were the one daydreaming." 

"Yeah well if you didn't make me walk all this way then I wouldn't have tripped over that tree root."

"How does that make sense?"

"Well I was so tired that I wasn't watching where I was going…"

"More like you weren't watching where you were going." Hawkmon butted in.

"You watch it feather boy, I'm tired and hungry and thirsty. And a tired, hungry, thirsty Yolie is not a very pleasant person to be around!" Yolie sat down heavily on the tree root she had tripped over.

"Yolie we can't stop yet." Hawkmon pleaded, "If we stop now then we won't have a chance at catching up with the others."

"You know what Hawkmon," Yolie started glaring at him with such ferocity it nearly made him fall over, "I don't care. I couldn't care less if we never find the others and we're forever stuck in this death trap. I just want to sit down and eat something and go to sleep. We've been walking for at least twelve hours and we haven't found a thing! What does that tell you Hawkmon?" 

"Yolie calm down." Hawkmon tried, backing away slightly.

"No I don't wanna calm down I just wanna go to sleep!" She yelled in his face, tears of frustration falling to the ground.

"Alright, alright we'll stop." Hawkmon gave in backing away from Yolie's enraged face.

"That's better." She said, more calmly. She sat down on the tree root again and sighed.

"Are we just going to stay here or do you want to look for a clearing?" Hawkmon asked but his questions were silenced by the glare Yolie gave him. 

He sighed in defeat, he could never win with her she was stubborn as a mule. But maybe he shouldn't have made her walk so far, he just thought she wanted to find he others a quickly as possible, because he certainly didn't want to be stuck in the dark forest.

They were on the right trail, he could tell. Only a few meters further ahead he had found a candy wrapper, stupidly left by one of the other digidestined, probably Davis. 

He had lost the trail some time back, but didn't want to tell Yolie he had gotten them lost. Then out of the blue it just started up again. Maybe the others were more resourceful then he thought it was probably a trick to keep any enemies at bay, to throw them off. 

He sat down in the dirt; he didn't even realize how tired he was until now. He had been so determined to find the others he had forgotten all about his fatigue. Now it came rushing to him all at once, he nearly collapsed. He laid down in the dirt and was immediately asleep.

"Stupid Hawkmon." Yolie muttered watching Hawkmon as he drifted off into sleep. 

Why she was blaming him she didn't know, she just needed someone to blame. If only Davis was here he's always an easy person to blame. 

She smiled ruefully to herself. She could be so mean sometimes, but it was so funny watching Davis go crazy. Especially over Kari and TK. Even the dumbest of people could tell there was something between them, except for Davis. He had no idea, he still thought Kari was 'his girl', what an idiot. 

It was really pathetic though. She really felt sorry for Kari, if she had someone like Davis after her she'd puke. But he wasn't all that bad, sure he could be a total jerk sometimes, but then again he could be very selfless. Like that time when Ken was the digimon emperor and he got those Bakemon to pretend they were them, and then feed them to the Deltamon. He was willing to sacrifice himself for them, which was pretty noble for Davis. Good thing the real group had gotten there in time or he would've been Deltamon's lunch.

Yolie was broken suddenly from her thoughts as her eyes locked onto a white shadow that floated only meters away from their campsite. Her heartbeat quickened until she could hear it thumping in her ears. She could feel the goose bumps crawl up her legs and arms as a cold shiver ran down her spine. She sat frozen with fear watching as the ghastly apparatus floated behind some trees and disappeared. 

She could have sworn it looked like a woman, a woman ghost. A woman that had died in this forest and now her ghost was here to eat her soul. Yolie sat rigidly on the tree root; unable to move any of her limbs in fear the ghost would come and get her. She glanced at the sleeping Hawkmon, her hands now shaking with fear. 

"Hawkmon…" She whispered carefully. No response, "Hawkmon help..." She stared down at Hawkmon willing him to wake up. But it didn't work; he just lay there sleeping like a log.

"Hawkmon." She said a little louder, her eyes instantly darting around the surrounding trees, trying to spot the ghost. 

She glared down at Hawkmon, now thoroughly annoyed at the sleeping bird. 

"Hawkmon!" She yelled kicking him in the ribs with one of her stiff legs.

This got a response. Hawkmon yelped as her boot impacted with the side of his body. He jumped up and glared angrily at Yolie.

"What was that for?" He yelled up at her.

"Shut up Hawkmon do you want the ghost to come and eat your soul?" Yolie yelled back searching the forest for her supposed 'ghost.'

"Ghost?" Hawkmon questioned his body relaxing from its battle stance as he placed his claws on his hips and stared up at Yolie, a sardonic smile plastered on his face, "Yolie I think you need to get some sleep, there are no ghosts around here." 

"Of course there are, I just saw one." She said gripping at her shirt for comfort, "Look at this place I bet it's crawling with ghosts." 

"Yolie look around you, do you see any ghosts?" He asked motioning to the thick layers of trees that enclosed them, "I certainly don't."

"That's because she's hiding, waiting for the perfect time when we're not suspecting." Yolie said her wide, fearful eyes insanely darting from tree to tree, "Then she'll jump out and eat your soul."

Hawkmon couldn't reply to this. He stared at her with a mixture of humor and pity.

"Look Yolie I think you just need to get some sleep, your tired remember your hallucinating." Hawkmon tried to comfort her patting her led with his claw.

"No I'm not crazy!" She yelled down at him causing him to jump back in surprise, "It saw something, and I wasn't hallucinating! There was really something there!"

"Okay Yolie, "Hawkmon agreed with her, "Okay I still think you need to get some rest so I'll stay here and guard you while you sleep, make sure the ghosts don't come to get you."

"No! I know you Hawkmon you'll just go to sleep! You don't ever believe me 

"Of course I believe you." Hawkmon said in a non-convincing tone, "Now just lay down and get some rest. 

He pulled on the leg of her pants like a small child. She reluctantly gave in sinking to her knees, gripping the front of her shirt so hard her knuckles had gone white.

"That's right Yolie, you get some rest. I'll stand guard for any ghosts lurking in the scary forest." He said, patting her hair trying to get her to sleep. But she just lay ridged on the ground her eyes wide open.

"Hawkmon…" she whispered, "Will you really protect me?"

Hawkmon's face turned serious as her looked into Yolie's eyes. She really was scared of the ghost, even though she was just hallucinating.

"Of course I'll protect you Yolie, that what I'm here for." He said jumping up onto her stomach, "Now you get some rest okay."

She gave him a weak smile before her eyes drifted shut she instantly fell asleep. 

**

"Now Gatomon give the order, they're in chaos." Witchmon stared in anticipation at a large projection on the far wall. It was the digidestined, they were locked in battle with Mojyamon, and they seemed to be losing, almost. 

Why won't Gatomon give the order? Witchmon thought to herself. What's wrong with her, they're at their weakest point. They didn't have any way of defending themselves; she could just send in the Airdramons' and grab one or two of them. Hopefully they would have more luck than last time. 

"Come on Gatomon, give the order, they can't defend themselves!" 

Gatomon stood unwavering facing the hologram plastered on the wall. She didn't even seem to hear Witchmon. She just ignored her. After a moment she waved her paw at Witchmon.

"Not yet, wait…" She whispered, completely focused on the projection. 

"Wait?" Witchmon hollered, tempted to reach over and strangle the smaller digimon, "What could you possibly be waiting for? If we don't give the order now it'll be too late!" 

"No, not yet." She mumbled. 

Witchmon growled at her, her eyes lighting up with fury. Gatomon didn't even notice, her focus completely locked on the moving picture. Witchmon grunted and folded her arms across her chest, her left eye twitching slightly. She reluctantly accepted Gatomon's lack of interest in her and settled with watching the projection. 

Two more of their digimon had digivolved and they were now thoroughly beating the Mojyamon. Witchmon wanted to scream at Gatomon, who of course didn't even take notice of the face that their 'diversion' was about to be annihilated. She managed to restrain herself though Gatomon was her top strategist and she must know what she's doing. 

She concentrated once again on the projection. Now one of the children was kneeling down next to the Mojyamon. It was obviously going to die as its eyes had changed back to their original color. The girl seemed to be crying, crying because the Mojyamon was dying. This amused Witchmon seeing the girl spill her tears over some stupid Mojyamon was hilarious. 

"Now!" Gatomon yelled, "Now send them now!" 

A nearby Gazimon bowed low and ran off to relay the message to the Airdramon. Witchmon cackled to herself, her hand covering her mouth. The stupid digidestined won't know what hit them. They'll all be sad because that worthless Mojyamon died, and then they can join it. 

Gatomon turned to face Witchmon, her face expressionless, to match her blood red eyes. Why was she so depressed? They would finally be able to destroy the digidestined and then take over the digiworld. Nothing could stop them. She was too smart for them; she knew exactly what their weak points were. And they had eliminated all of their strong points, so they were helpless. 

Gatomon looked her in the eyes, her own were partly glazed over as if she were asleep or in deep thought. 

"Why the long face, we finally have our chance to destroy them!" Witchmon said excitedly slapping Gatomon on the back.

Gatomon looked up at her and gave her a weak pathetic smile. She immediately gazed back at the ground. Taking on a thoughtful position. She walked slowly out the door, her eyes locked on the ground, leaving Witchmon alone with the projection of the digidestined. 

She turned to it; the Airdramon hadn't reached their location yet, so they were just standing around talking. She couldn't hear what they were saying but one of them seemed to be yelling at the one who had started crying. 

She liked this girl. She had to remember the one with the blue hair. She seemed to have a very short temper that made her an eager candidate for her hypnotism. It was easy to manipulate those that have a short temper; they usually crack as soon as she started. 

She sighed and turned her throne around. How long would it take? Her patience was wearing. She'd wanted to take over the digiworld ever since she hatched. Then she had met Gatomon who had the same goals she had; she had enlightened her to the strategy needed to carry out such a task. Together they had made an invincible team. 

They watched as the dark lords battled the digidestined. They took in the mistakes they had made and fixed them. After they had fallen they watched as the Digimon emperor tried to take over the digiworld, and failed. His mistake was he had emotions so that was pretty easy to fix. 

Then there was that pushover Arukenimon and her stupid bumbling sidekick Mummymon. They were just very bad at strategy. They were sloppy, and didn't even try to attack them head on. They always sent other digimon to do their dirty work. That was what led them to their destruction. 

Black wargreymon, he too had had too many emotional problems. He thought too much, that was his problem. And the list went on. The thing is they had the upper hand, they took note of all these flaws and acted on them. They had the perfect foolproof plan. Comprised of all the best ideas the other megalomaniacs had tried, add some hypnotizing skills and you got the digidestineds heads on a platter.

The only thing that worried Witchmon now was Gatomon. She was losing her enthusiasm, which meant she might perhaps have some form of emotions. That was bad, if she let those stupid emotions get the better of her everything they had worked for would fall. Everything they had done in their whole lives together would be in vain. 

She had to snap Gatomon out of her thoughts. Because that was what made black wargreymon fail and she certainly didn't want to meet that same fate. And she didn't want her ingenious plan to fail just because of that little runt. She had to do something and she had to do it now. 

Witchmon jumped out of her throne and stalked out the door after Gatomon. She did not want to fall victim to that bunch of incompetent children.

**

Melodye lay on the hard dirt floor. The fire had long burned itself out and only a few embers could still been seen. The forest was pitch black, she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face. She looked up and couldn't see anything, no stars not even the moon, which she knew was full.

She hadn't been able to sleep all she had tried so many times but had never succeeded. She couldn't stop thinking about all that had past in the last day. In only one day she had been sucked into this strange world, as soon as they got in there they had been attacked. Then she'd been captured by a big ugly bird and dropped into a forest. That was definitely not everyday happenings, but from what Cody had told her she had to get used to these sort of things happening they were everyday occurrence's.

She rolled over onto her side, ignoring the stabbing pain in her ribs. She stared at the small ball of feathers that she called her digimon. She didn't really understand the whole digivolving concept; no matter how well Cody explained it to her. 

Why was it that Flamon could only digivolve into what they called a rookie when everybody else was digivolving into champions? What was it that made her so different, was it something to do with her? Cody had told her their digivolving was linked to their human partner, whenever they were in trouble or anything that would want the digimon to protect the human. 

Did she not have a strong enough bond with Flamon? Did Flamon not care if she was in trouble? All the others, even Clive who didn't even like his digimon or the digiworld could digivolve yet Flamon couldn't. Well she could but only into rookie. What did it mean? She had known Flamon ever since she fell out of the computer when she was eleven, they had been best friends ever since. So you can't say they didn't have a close relationship. What else could it be then?

She let her eyes wander about herself still deep in thought. There wasn't much she could look at so she stared deeply into the embers. There was something about fire that made her think. She looked up to where she guessed Gatomon was as she let out a mournful groan. She was obviously dreaming about Wizardmon or whoever she had been talking to before. 

Her gaze drifted again to the forest behind her. She stared intently into the darkness, hoping to see light, or life, or anything out there. She knew nothing lived in this forest though, because of the silence. It scared her but at the same time it calmed her. She had never heard nothing before that is if you could hear nothing. There was always some sort of humming or creaking to disturb the nothingness at home. 

She caught a glimpse of a white light deep in the forest; it was very faint but still there. She sat up and stared into the forest again, her body ridged and her senses alert. She stared at the trees, hoping to see whatever it was again. Maybe it was one of the others with a flashlight or something.

There it was again. From behind a tree far out in the forest a white figure floated. Melodye's whole body tensed as she recognized what it was. A woman, maybe a few years older then she was, hovered centimeters from the ground. Upon her slender body she wore pure white robes that flowed around her, blown by a wind that only existed in her. Long golden, white hair fell down around her beautiful face and reached down to her feet. But upon her back two huge white wings sat, soft white feathers blew about her like a whirlwind. 

She stared at Melodye with her golden eyes her face calm and soft. She opened her mouth as to speak but no words were uttered. And within an instant she was gone, as if she had never been standing there at all. But where she had stood a small ray of golden light shone announcing the suns rising. 

Melodye couldn't move. Her limbs were frozen in place; her eyes stuck on the golden ray of light that dare penetrate the thick canopy of trees. Her mouth hung open ready to utter words of horror but her voice box would not respond. 

Was that just some bizarre hallucination? Lack of sleep did that to people, and she hadn't slept all night. But it looked so real, and that ray of sunlight couldn't just be a coincidence could it? Or maybe that was a figure of her imagination as well. 

She closed her eyes tight and shook her head roughly. She opened them again to reveal the same patch of pure golden light shining through the darkness. It definitely was real; there was no arguing here.

She glanced over to Cody; he still slept soundly where he lay. Without another thought she crawled over to him and shook his shoulder lightly in an attempt to wake him. He stirred slightly but stayed asleep.

"Cody…" She whispered nudging his shoulder harder than before. 

She got a response this time. He groaned and rolled over to face away from her. 

"Go away I'm trying to sleep." He mumbled 

"Cody I think I saw an angel." She whispered frantically, shaking his shoulder roughly.

He sat up in response pushing Melodye away as he did. He looked around in a daze; his eyes still half glazed over.

"What?" He asked staring at her with his sleepy eyes, "An angel?"

"Yeah, I saw it over there." She pointed behind her without taking her eyes off his, "It was an angel." 

"Melodye I think you need to get some more sleep." He mumbled rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, "You're probably just tired." 

"No I'm not crazy, it was where that ray of sunshine is." She turned around to locate the fountain of light, but it had disappeared. 

Cody looked over her shoulder and studied the blackness for any signs of light. The forest had lightened some from the coming of dawn but there was no sign of any single rays of light. 

"It was right there." She mumbled looking around trying to spot it, "there was an angel." 

"Melodye you're just tired we did have a very exhausting day, you look like you need some rest." 

"You're right…" She admitted, "I haven't slept al night, maybe I just drifted off and dreamt I saw an angel."

Cody nodded his head and layback down.

"Get some rest you'll need it if we ant to find the others." 

Melodye nodded her head lightly in reply still studying the forest for her ray of light, but it was gone now. She shook her head in defeat and lay down in the dirt, immediately drifting off to sleep as she did.

**

'God everyone looks so depressed, I need to cheer them up but every time I say something I seem to make it worse.' The Digidestined group sat around a small yellow campfire. Though they had stopped to sleep it seemed the only person who could sleep was Clive and their digimon, but that was a different story. He was the one who made them stop, if it wasn't for him they'd probably be on their way to finding the others. 

Davis glared scornfully at Clive. He didn't even move, just lay there snoring softly. He turned away and ran his eyes over the group. Kari was staring deeply into the fire, while TK had his arm wrapped over her shoulder. Ken sat hunched over, staring into the fire hugging a sleeping Wormmon tightly, Iris sat beside him, her eyes too stuck on the fire. 

He nudged her lightly catching her attention. 

"You okay?" He asked her, moving slightly closer.

She mumbled something in reply and stared past him. 

"You don't seem like the kind of person who'd go rankers like that." He grinned at her, but her eyes were still unfocused staring right past his head.

She blinked her eyes back into focus, now staring deep into Davis' eyes.

"Yeah…" She mumbled.

"What was that all about anyway?" He continued, trying his best to hold a conversation with her. 

She almost seemed to wake up at this. She shook her head vigorously and rubbed her eyes with the backs of her fists. She sighed, looking down at the fire again.

"I just can't stand the way people wont fight for themselves. I mean I know where you're coming from, but I grew up having to defend myself and it's just alien to me." 

"Yeah I know what you mean. They all call me a hot head for wanting to fight but in he end I'm always right." This got a small smile from Iris. She lifted her blue eyes from the fire and stared at him. 

"Always?" She asked now grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"Well not always, but most of the time. They always end up fighting so why bother waiting?"

"Yeah you're right, some people have no logic whatsoever." She nodded her head a few times, her pigtails following her movements, bobbing up and down beside her ears.

One downs three to go. Davis thought to himself. He was pretty good at this stuff; he could be a motivational speaker or something like that. 

Iris had proceeded to stare at the fire, but now a small smile graced her lips. If only he could get Kari to smile like that, he hated seeing her sad. It made everything seem so dark. He lifted his eyes to look at her and TK. He looked so smug, Kari wrapped in his arms, how did he do it?

Davis shook his head, determined not to go down that train of thought again. He instead looked over to Ken. Even though Davis knew Ken would never forget about what he did, he always tried to cheer up his friend. He knew for a fact that he was thinking about it now, he had that look in his eyes. That guilty look, as if he'd just been blamed for something he'd done but wasn't going to own up to it. 

Davis moved closer to Ken nudging him as he did. 

"Hey buddy whatcha thinking about?" Ken glanced up at him with his sad eyes. Davis' hated seeing people look sad like that, it made him feel sad. And he didn't like feeling sad because it made him think about sad things. And well it doesn't matter.

"Nothin'" Ken replied.

"Oh come on I can tell when people are thinking, they have that serious look on their face and they never want to talk." 

Davis scrunched up his face and set his chin on the back of his fist, taking on a thinking posture. He was rewarded with a small smile tugging at Ken's lips but it soon faded.

"You wouldn't understand…" He mumbled hugging Wormmon tighter. 

"What do you mean I wont understand are you calling me dumb?" Davis yelled in mock anger.

"No I-I don't mean that, it's just… oh never mind."

"No I'm gonna keep bugging you about this, I'm not as dumb as you think I am. I'll try to understand, or at least pretend."

"Davis…" 

"You're thinking about when you were the digimon emperor aren't you?" 

Ken stared at him in shock for a moment before softly replying,

"Yeah… it's just about what Iris said…" He confessed.

"What you mean about that 'light' or whatever it was, I think that was just a metaphor."

"You're right but I know that I don't have it. I don't have it because I've killed so many. And it wasn't like her how she killed for survival; I killed just for the fun of it. I took pleasure in watching digimon suffer." 

He only just held back the oncoming tears. He'd promised himself he wouldn't cry over this anymore but he couldn't seem to forget. It wasn't something he could just remove like that. It wasn't like he'd just broken a vase and then hid the pieces it was much more. The things he did could never be forgiven. 

"No Ken." Davis said roughly shaking him out of his thoughts, "I'm not gonna let you start thinking about how you can't be forgiven for your sins, you always get so depressed when you do."

"Thanks buddy." Ken replied gratefully. 

It wasn't often you could find a friend like Davis. Sure he could be a little crude at times but his intentions were always good. He could never get any of the others to tell him what they really thought, but for Davis you couldn't get him to lie about something like that. He'd always just come right out and say what's on his mind. That wasn't always a good thing but in times like this he needed someone to bring him back to reality.

"No prob, now I got some advice for you. If you ever find yourself thinking about things that you know are way over your head you should just start thinking about the person that you like." Davis nudged him softly in the ribs to emphasize his point.

"What do you mean?" Ken asked innocently.

He'd never really had time for girls; he'd always be too involved in his studies to worry about trivial things like that. He'd always pretend to be interested whenever one of his fans come running up but he knew it wasn't the same. He knew Yolie liked him, it was obvious to him. He'd always catch her staring at him, and she'd always come and watch him play soccer. But he still didn't feel any special bond with her.

"Well you know…" Davis started nudging him again, "That special lady that you've got your eyes on. You know I think Yolie really likes you how do you feel about her?"

"I don't know…" He trailed off still half trapped in his thoughts, "I've never really thought about it." 

"What?" Davis stared at him in shock, "You mean you've never had a crush on anybody?" 

"Well no…" Kan replied his cheeks blushing a light pink, "I never really had time, you know with all my study." 

"No Ken you don't see there's always time to like someone, it doesn't take up any time. I study all the time and I like people." 

"Your grades don't say otherwise." Ken smirked.

"Hey you leave my grades out of this." He warned him holding his fist up in front of his face, "What I'm trying to say is if you wanna let go of the past you need to get yourself a girlfriend. That shouldn't be too hard for you with the amount of girls you got hanging off you." 

"But I don't like any of them…" 

"That doesn't matter, if you've got something to think about then you wont have time to think about the past." 

"I guess your right, I'll ponder your advice." Ken said a cynical smile defying his words.

"Alright." Davis said slapping him on the back, "that's the spirit you know I'm right hey."

Ken nodded his head smiling to himself. Davis was definitely one of a kind.

Bingo, Davis thought to himself, two down one to go. Not counting TK or that idiot Clive they can cheer themselves up he didn't owe them anything, but now for Kari. He stood up and walked over to the other side of the fire. TK looked up at him as he did, his eyes warning him to back off. Davis glared back at him as he sat down next to Kari; she didn't even notice his presence. But that didn't hinder him.

"Hey Kari…" He started, but his words were cut off by a huge bang not far from where they were.

"Uh oh" Iris said instantly on her feet, "Everybody get ready!" She shouted.

She held out her digivice signaling Polarmon to digivolve.

"Polarmon digivolve too," Light burst from her digivice and surrounded Polarmon as she digivolved, "Megapolarmon!"

Iris jumped up onto Megapolarmon's back. They took off into the forest, Iris riding on Megapolarmon's back like a surfboard. 

"What the…" Davis watched as Megapolarmon leaped through some trees and disappeared. Why did this have to happen now? He was just about to start talking to Kari when… boom! It all gets ruined. He looked angrily down at Veemon who was tugging on the bottom of his pants.

"Davis come on I gotta help them." He pleaded occasionally glancing over to the trees where Megapolarmon had disappeared.

"Alright." He mumbled as he pulled his D3 out.

"Veemon digivolve too… Exveemon!" Davis stared up at Exveemon expectantly.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked a huge grin plastered on his face. Exveemon shrugged and picked him up, setting him on his shoulder. 

Davis looked back at the others; Wormmon had digivolved and was carrying Ken off into the forest. Patamon had also digivolved and was waiting for TK to give the orders. TK on the other hand was helping Kari up; barely aware of anything else that was happening.

Davis snarled at TK watching as Kari fawned over him and how considerate he was. He could be considerate he'd show her that. 

Without warning Exveemon jolted into motion almost throwing Davis right off his shoulder. Davis grabbed onto his neck and steadied himself for the trip.

"What was that for?" He asked flicking Exveemons' neck.

"I couldn't wait any longer." He said swiftly running through the underbrush only barely dodging tree branches and other projectiles. 

Davis ducked his head down dodging a huge tree limb that came flying at his head at an amazing speed. He looked behind him in shock at the disappearing branch; his head could have been embedded in that piece of wood if ha had been only a second slower.

"Hey," Davis called to Exveemon, "Watch where you're going I was almost hit."

"Sorry Davis." Exveemon replied halfheartedly.

Fortunately for Exveemon Davis didn't have enough time to start yelling at him as they reached their destination. The trees suddenly dropped away reveling a not too welcoming cliff over looking a dead mountain range. On the edge of the cliff Megapolarmon was locked in deadly battle with three Airdramons'.

Exveemon stopped and watched as Megapolarmon shot her attack at one of the Airdramons' and dodged as one shot an attack at her.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Davis yelled into his ear, "Help her!" 

Exveemon set Davis on the ground and was instantly at Megapolarmon's side. 

Ex-vee laser!" He yelled red beams shooting from his chest and hitting one of the Airdramons' causing it to lose its balance and drop from sight. 

"Watch out!" He heard Stingmon's familiar voice call him. 

He turned around only to find a huge ball of energy bearing down on him. He jumped out of the way just in time as it slammed into the ground causing part of the cliff to break off and fall out of sight.

"That was a close one." He thanked his luck and flew over to the fighting pair. 

The other Airdramon had returned and was now attacking Megapolarmon along with one other. Exveemon jumped in taking the hero role and saving Megapolarmon. He grabbed one of the Airdramons by the tail and swung it around with all his might. He let it go sending the Airdramon hurtling through the air.

"Good save." Megapolarmon said jumping out of the way of an Airdramon tail. 

"Hey guys!" Iris turned her attention to the voice. 

TK and Kari were riding on the back of Pegasusmon. They jumped down and ran over to the other children. 

"Guys what's going on here?" TK yelled over the sounds of battle. 

"They were coming to attack us!" Iris yelled back. 

"Not again." Kari said staring over at the Airdramon, "Don't hurt them!" She yelled up at the battling digimon, "It's not their fault!" 

Kari ran heedlessly into the middle of the fight, ignoring the danger she was putting herself in.

"Kari!" Iris yelled following her into the midst of the raging battle, "Kari what are you doing?" 

Kari ran over to Megapolarmon and tugged at her fur to stop her from attacking the Airdramon. Megapolarmon glanced down at the girl at her feet opening herself to an attack. The nearby Airdramon took this chance and swung its tail, full force at Megapolarmon. Her ribs took the brute of the attack and she was sent flying back away from the cliff, de-digivolving back into Polarmon. 

Kari stared in shock as Megapolarmon was slammed by the Airdramon and sent flying back into her group of friends. She was so shocked that she didn't notice the same Airdramon soaring down straight at her preparing to snatch her off the ground. It grabbed her by the back of her shirt with its mouth and started carrying her off.

"Kari!" Davis yelled noticing the Airdramon and her. 

He ran over to Exveemon who was currently locked in battle with the other Airdramon.

"Exveemon follow that Airdramon!" He yelled. 

Exveemon glanced over at Davis allowing the Airdramon to slam his back. He grunted in pain and fell limply to the ground, de-digivolving back into Veemon.

"Veemon!" Davis yelled running over to the small dragon and kneeling down next to him, "Veemon what happened?" 

"It got my spine." He whispered quivering in pain.

"No veemon…"

"Kari!" TK yelled in unison with Davis. 

That stupid Airdramon was not going to get away with this. He ran over to where Pegasusmon was fighting with the other Airdramon along with Stingmon and Exveemon. 

"Pegasusmon!" He called. 

At the same time Davis called out to Exveemon distracting him from the fight allowing the Airdramon a clear shot. It hit him straight in the spine and he fell to the ground. TK stared in shock, not even noticing Pegasusmon fly to his side.

"TK." Pegasusmon said startling him out of his shock.

TK nodded his head and jumped on his back; ready to follow the Airdramon that had Kari.

He heard a scream from back on the cliff. He looked over to find another Airdramon grab Iris from behind and start carrying her off.

"Not again." He mumbled ordering Pegasusmon over to the new Airdramon. 

"Star sho…" Pegasusmon started readying himself to attack.

"No stop Pegasusmon." TK cut him off pulling on his mane; "You'll hit Iris as well." 

Pegasusmon reared up in frustration. How was he ever supposed to save her if he couldn't attack the Airdramon? He flew in closer so he was flying parallel to the Airdramon. It glanced at them careful not to drop Iris as it did. 

"Drop her now." TK ordered.

"No don't!" Iris yelled clinging onto its mouth.

She glanced down at the swiftly moving terrain below them. A cold shiver ran down her spine as she clutched the Airdramons' mouth. She would rather be flying here with this Airdramon then smashed all over those rocks. 

The Airdramon jolted to one side nearly dropping her as it did. She could feel the impact as it's tailed slammed onto Pegasusmon. She glanced over to where TK had been riding Pegasusmon only a few moments ago, now it was just nothing. She glanced behind them, but she still couldn't see them.

"No help someone!" She screamed to no avail. She was way out of earshot plus the only one that could save her now was Stingmon and he was probably caught up with those other Airdramon. She sighed in defeat closing her eyes to the harsh reality. There was no one who could save her now; she'd just have to be strong.


	10. Alone

Chapter 10:

Chapter 10: Alone

"Kari, Iris no!" Davis called out over the mountains. He looked down at the limp form of Demiveemon in his arms. He couldn't leave Demiveemon here but he couldn't just let those Airdramon take Kari and Iris, "Ken!" He called out catching the young boys attention, "Ken Stingmon's the only one who can save them now you need to go!" 

"Davis it's a little hard right now!" He motioned over to Stingmon who was still battling off the last Airdramon, "Don't worry we'll find them." 

Davis sighed watching in anticipation as Stingmon battled the Airdramon. Stingmon dodged one of its attacks at the same time delivering one of his own. He drove his Sting ray into its soft underbelly sending a purplish goo flying everywhere. The Airdramon screeched in pain and dropped off the side of the cliff in defeat. 

Stingmon flew down next to Ken instantly de-digivolving back into Wormmon. 

"Are you okay Wormmon?" Kan asked picking him up and inspecting him for bruises. 

"I'm fine Ken but what about the others?"

"I don't know Wormmon, unless you can digivolve again?" 

"C'mon Wormmon your our last hope!" Davis yelled running over to them, "You gotta do it, for Kari."

"Alright I'll try…" Wormmon said jumping out of Ken's grip, "Wormmon digivolve too…" 

Ken's digivice started to glow from his pocket. He pulled it as the light channeled its way to Wormmon surrounding him with its healing light. The light started to fade gradually revealing the ridged for of Wormmon.

"Wormmon, Wormmon digivolve to Wormmon. I'm sorry Ken I just can't do it." He apologized looking up at Ken and shifting nervously.

"That's alright Wormmon you did your best, "Ken picked him up again and cradled him in his arms, "I guess well just have to wait."

"Ken…" Davis whined jumping from one foot to the other, "I can't just stand around while Karis being carted off somewhere by some ugly Airdramon, I need to do something." 

"Davis you need to calm down we still need to find Gatomon and Cody and Yolie we cant just leave them in that forest." TK piped up walking over to them, holding a very hurt looking Patamon in his arms. 

"What would you know TG? Don't you care about Kari anymore?" Davis taunted him.

"Davis that's not the point, look at your digimon do you think he's in any condition to go on some wild goose chase, we don't even know where those Airdramon took them." TK yelled motioning to Demiveemon.

Davis looked down at his digimon taking in his form. He wasn't in any condition to do anything, he looked almost dead. TK was right, he couldn't go looking for Kari now when Demiveemon was in this condition. Davis sighed and sat down on the hard rocks over looking the mountain range. He couldn't take any joy in the scenery, he had too much to think about.

"Alright TB you win this time, well stay here." He pouted settling Demiveemon in his lap.

"Davis it's not that I don't care about Kari, I care about her a lot, it's just that we need to think logically." TK tried to comfort him sitting down next to Davis.

"I said you win TA what else do you want?" 

TK sighed getting up once again. Davis was such a hothead, he took everything the wrong way. It wasn't that TK hated him or anything, it's just this rivalry thing he had going was too much. He didn't want to fight with him, but to even get close to Kari was like violating someone's private property. Sometimes he just couldn't handle it. 

And it was times like these where Davis even made him feel guilty for making the decisions he did. But he has to know that going in and fighting for no reason isn't going to get them anywhere, especially with their digimon so hurt. He did want Kari back, so bad, but he knew now that she was strong. 

It was sort of like when she was sucked into the dark world. He was so worried about her that time he thought he had lost her forever. But no matter how much she denied it she was like her brother in every way possible. He knew she could take care of herself now, she had Iris with her as well so she should be okay, he hoped.

"Are we going to set up camp here?" Ken asked walking over to TK.

"I guess so…" he trailed off looking over what was left of the group, "Wait Ken didn't we have another person?" He asked remembering back to when they were at camp.

"Yes, we forgot about Clive." Ken said his eyes widening.

** 

Clive slowly opened his eyes to the dim morning light. He was glad he had convinced the other to stay here while he slept. He knew the rest of the group just sat up all night around that pitiful little fire, thinking about how they were going to repent for killing that Mojyamon. Fools.

He lifted his head up to look around. They were probably still staring into the coals like ugly statues. Still thinking of ways to ask god for forgiveness. Some people could be so dumb.

He glanced around himself at the empty forest that surrounded him. Not a sign of any of them. He sat up to get a better view of his surroundings; still nothing. Nothing but the remains of last nights fire. 

"Clive?" he spun around to face the person who had spoken his name. 

Wraithmon was floating as usual only three centimeters from his face. He back away some to get a better look at her. She was carrying a crudely woven flax basket filled with exotic fruits of all kinds. Some that even he'd never seen or heard of.

"Where is everyone?" He asked looking around once again.

"They all left last night." She said setting down the basket and removing the fruits.

"Where to?" He asked standing up and checking the forest again.

"I don't know I woke up and they all just took off." She said pulling a large silver platter from no where.

"And you didn't ask them where they were going? What if another one of them monsters come and try to eat us? What are you going to do then?" Clive screamed at Wraithmon, grabbing his messy hair and tugging it like a maniac. 

"Don't worry Clive," Wraithmon comforted him in her calm voice, "We've still got Armadillomon." 

Clives eyes darted to the sleeping lump he presumed was Armadillomon. What the hell could that lazy thing do, it didn't even notice the others were gone.

"What? What good is that gonna do us?" Clive said shifting his piecing gaze back to Wraithmon.

She was still looking at him with that ditzy smile plastered on her face. it was as if she was incapable of panicking, or feeling anything for that matter. Her eyes looked blank, just two big purple holes in her see-through head. And that stupid smile was driving him crazy, he couldn't stand it anymore.

"Don't worry, I'm sure we'll find the others." She said floating past his head over to Armadillomon.

Yeah sure that was what she said, but considering his luck they had about a one in a million chance of finding the others. And with his terrible survival skills that percentage dropped another million. What was he supposed to do? He'd go crazy if he stayed with these two for more than one minuet, let alone the rest of his life. 

He had to face the music whining about it like some little girl wasn't going to solve his problems. He had to face the fact that he, Clive Minomoto, was stuck in this terrible death hole for the rest of his meaningless life.

Clive sighed heavily sitting down next to the coals of last nights fire. He glanced over to Wraithmon and Armadillomon. They were seated around the flax bag shoving all sorts of fruits and berries in their mouths. He pulled his eyes away from them shaking his head. He stared deep into the black forest hoping to find any signs of the rest of the group. 

Sure they could annoying sometimes, well all the time actually. And they could be so obnoxious, Davis especially. But though he hated to admit this, he needed them. he'd never been to the digital world before and he wasn't exactly the fittest person in the world. He could put two and two together; he needed these people to get back to the real world. Or at least to give him some answers, he had so many questions that Wraithmon couldn't answer and he guessed the others knew at least some of the answers.

Clive let his eyes wander over the black forest. It was so empty, it was like looking into a void of nothingness. Nothing could live in that forest. Nothing except that glowing white lady…

Clive shook his head hard, did he really see what he thought he saw? He stood up and walked over to the edge of the clearing where they had camped. He peered into the thick forest hoping to catch another glimps of the heavenly figure. There was nothing there except trees, blackness and trees. 

He shook his head again hoping to clear his thoughts. He was probably still half asleep, just seeing things. But he still couldn't take his eyes off the black forest. It was like it was drawing it to him, the angel was drawing him to it. 

He stepped heedlessly into the thick forest. He wanted to know what it was he saw, even if it did mean braving the dark forest. He walked further into the forest carefully avoiding tree stumps and other obstacles. It was so hard to see in the blackness, it was like walking with his eyes closed. 

He continued walking until he got to a certain point in the forest. It was like he had reached a dimensional boarder. In a suddenness that blinded him the blackness dropped away to reveal a clearing filled with a pure white light. Not unlike the one that the digivices emitted when digimon digivolved. 

Clive shaded his eyes, blinking them furiously to adjust to the light. He peered closer into the light, trying to find what it was causing it. It was the woman again, in the long flowing white robes that seemed to sway as if being blown by a light breeze, but no wind made it this far into the forest. They moved by themselves along with her long golden hair that blew about her face like golden rays of sunlight passing through the trees.

Clive stared at her for long moments, taking in her face and form. What was an angel of such grace and beauty doing in the midst of this dank, dark forest? He took another step closer keeping his eyes locked on the golden jewels that adorned her porcelain face. He took another step closer reaching his hand out to caress her soft white skin. She reached out her own hand her eyes never leaving his.

There was a moment of pure bliss as Clives fingers brushed up against hers. The world around him spun until everything lost focus and only white and black blurs remained. He was standing in some sort of limbo, his body frozen in place, his eyes focused only on hers. The blinding whiteness around him only adding to the unfolding scene, enhancing her white skin and the huge wings the adorned her back. 

He was quickly pulled from his limbo however as she jerked her hand away; her whole body shuddering in fear. She stared into his eyes, her own changing color into a light pink. She backed away from him; fear written on her face. She passed effortlessly through a tree that would have normally blocked her way and disappeared, along with the holy light into the empty forest. 

Clive continued to stare at the spot she had once occupied, surprise and confusion marring his face. His hand still reached out in front of him waiting for his angle to reappear. But she never came. He was broken from his pondering by a familiar voice. 

"Clive?" Wraithmon asked in her soft voice. 

Clive shuddered as Wraithmons hand passed through his skin. Every time she touched him that part of his body would turn cold like ice and goose-bumps would prick his skin.

"Clive what are you staring at?" She asked floating around so she sat in front of his face.

Clive shook his head and looked up into her big purple eyes. His mind flicked back to the angel and the look of terror that had marred her beautiful porcelain skin. The way here eyes changed from a soothing golden to a cold grey in merely one moment. Was he destined to turn everything he touched to evil?

"Clive are you okay?" 

"Get away from me." Clive yelled at Wraithmon turning his back on her and staring at the ground. 

"But Clive we need to find the others…" She started noticing his hardened features. 

She knew he was about to cry but he didn't want to let her see him break down. What was it that had gotten him so emotional? Was it something she had said? Maybe it was because she didn't offer him any food. Or maybe he just missed his friends; that must be it.

"Clive don't worry well find the others, if you want I could digivolve, I'm strong enough now…" She tried but no response came from him. 

It was like he had turned into a statue. What if he was dead, but then he wouldn't be standing. Maybe he was just asleep, yeah he must be asleep no-one could just ignore her, she was way too cute.

"Clive are you awake?" She asked brushing her stubby hand across his neck. He shuddered and spun around to face him.

"Look, Which part of get away from me didn't you understand?" He asked giving her his stare, the one that always made her listen, "Now scram!"

"But Clive… don't you want to find your friends?" She asked. 

She was truly confused now. If he wasn't asleep, and he didn't miss his friends than what was bothering him? Why was he being so mean? She knew it had something to do with her, but she couldn't think what she could have done to make him so upset. All she wanted to do was prove to him that she was worthy, that she could be just as good as Angewomon or Angemon, that she was his digimon and she'd protect him no matter what happened. 

"Clive what have I done wrong?" She asked voicing her fears.

"Nothing, you didn't do anything wrong okay!" He yelled back at her, "It's me! it's always been me, everything I touch turns evil or breaks or whatever!"

"What do you mean Clive, you touched me and I'm not evil…" 

"That's because your dead I can't exactly put my curse on someone who's dead can I?" Clive glared at her, his steely blue eyes piercing right into her vulnerable soul.

"Your curse?" She asked, "I don't know what you're talking about Clive."

"Of course you don't know what I'm talking about because I haven't told you…" He said softer lowering his eyes to the ground, "Ever since I can remember everything I touched or came in contact with broke, or something bad happened to it…"

He trailed off into an uncomfortable silence. Wraithmon was stumped, she didn't know what to say. She'd never had to deal with this before, why was her human so difficult? Maybe he was broken or something. Maybe she should take him back to Gennai and ask for a refund. But he did say that being a digidestineds digimon wouldn't be easy. But it looked pretty easy for all the other digimon, they never had to deal with broken humans before. 

"And every person I ever came in contact with would die, or something bad would happen to them…" He started again, "Everywhere I went things would go wrong."

"Clive don't be sad…" She tried. 

How was she ever going to match up to Angewomon if she couldn't even cheer up her human? She bet Angewomon would always have some inspiring words of wisdom for her human whenever she was down in the dumps. But all she could come up with was 'don't be sad'. What kind of a sad excuse for a digimon was she?

"You wouldn't understand…" He trailed off standing up straight again, "You just some stupid figment of my imagination, maybe I am going crazy."

What did he mean figment of his imagination? Maybe it was really her dreaming. If only she could wake up back in her cave to find the digivices there, nice and worm on her skin. Then they'd go flying off and she could get a new human, one that wasn't broken.

"Well are you coming?" He asked walking into the thick forest.

If only…

**

Her head hurt.

Iris slowly opened her eyes, squinting at the bright light that flooded her vision almost blinding her. She groaned and sat up rubbing her aching head. She rubbed her eyes again shaking her head as she did. She opened her eyes again blinking a few times to adjust to the light. She glanced around her unfamiliar surroundings, taking in every crack and spot of light. She was seated in a small dingy cell, with only enough room to move her legs. The walls were cracked and broken, obviously in much need of repair. A small cot sat on the side wall, only big enough to fit maybe a small digimon. Surrounding her on either side were rusted bars, locking her in the cramped cell. 

She glanced around once more, her head still throbbed with pain making her sight slightly blurry. She looked through the bars on one side of her to see Kari standing in a cell of her own, her head up against the bars of the small window high on the brick wall in her cell. She seemed to be whispering something, maybe praying, and with the only small ray of light allowed in the cell shining down on her it made her look like even more of an angel than usual.

She turned her attention to Iris, a small smile touching the corners of her lips.

"You're awake." She said as she hoped down from the window and stood at the bars separating their cells, "I was starting to think you'd never wake up, it's awfully boring being stuffed in here."

"Where are we?" Iris questioned surveying her surroundings once again.

"I don't know… I just remember waking up in here." Kari replied glancing around herself as well.

"All I remember is flying through the air on that Airdramon, I can't even remember when I fell asleep." Iris said standing up and dusting her clothes off.

"I haven't even seen any guards yet." Kari said cautiously looking down the corridor next to the cells.

"This place looks totally unfamiliar to me." Iris said.

She'd never seen this place before in all her travels through the digiworld. Of all the dungeons she had explored, all the old castles she had excavated she'd never seen this place before. She hopped up on the small bunk, careful not to put too much of her weight on it as not to break the brittle wood. Even the scenery was alien to her. Dead trees and burnt grass was all that surrounded this dungeon.

"I see you're taking in the scenery." An unfamiliar voice smirked.

Iris spun around to face the intruder. Standing outside the dungeon stood a small Gatomon, smaller even than Kari's Gatomon, and black. It's red eyes glowed with an unimaginable hatred, for what Iris didn't know. She'd never seen anything like this before. It's claws looked sharper, as did it's teeth. But it's tail ring was what bothered her. It looked exactly like the dark rings the digimon emperor had used to enslave digimon. 

"Who are you?" Kari asked grabbing hold of the bars, trying to squeeze her head through.

"Why I thought you of all people should know Kari." It said turning to face her, a malicious grin plastered on her face.

"How do you know my name?" Kari asked examining the small Gatomon.

"Why I know all your names. I know you Iris," It gloated shifting its blood red eyes over to Iris, "And I know all about Davis and TK and little Gatomon." 

"You leave them alone!" Iris shouted.

She didn't even know why, the way the Gatomon had said their names gave her a bad feeling, like she knew more than just their names. She knew all about them, what they felt, what they were thinking, their weaknesses. Iris also got the feeling it knew more about her than it let on, how was she supposed to defeat a foe that knew all her strengths and weaknesses? Iris shook her head, glancing down at the short black cat. She was probably just overacting, she did have a very bad headache and that usually caused bad judgement. There was no way this runt knew all of her weaknesses, and even if she did Polarmon could easily digivolve and defeat it, she had many times before.

"Too bad neither of you have your little digimon buddies to protect you." It said staring straight at Iris. 

Iris stepped back leaning her back against the wall. Had it just read her thoughts? But it was right she didn't have polarmon to protect her now, it was just her and Kari against this surprisingly intelligent Gatomon. Maybe it was just Coincidence. Iris shook her head again; this time more vigorously causing her headache to flare up again, but she ignored it. She couldn't take that chance, she was up against a very worthy foe she had no time to take such chances. If she had learned one thing while being stuck in the digiworld it was to never underestimate your enemy.

"What happened to Gatomon?" Kari yelled her hands so tight on the bars her knuckles had gone white.

"Nothing…" the Gatomon said mysteriously.

"What are you going to do with us?" Iris asked her back still pressed against the wall.

"Finally a question worthy of answering, what am I going to do with you? Well how about you meet some of my friends." It gave a quick whistle as several digimon came in each carrying a huge metal object, some bigger than the digimon themselves.

Iris gaped at the huge clumps of metal. They looked like they had been stolen from a dentist, a really big dentist. One was a huge drill with all sorts of sharp metal bits pointing out of it, like spider legs. Another looked like a double sided axe, but the axe part was on both ends, like a staff. There were whips of all sorts and unnamable torture tools, how was she supposed to get out of this one?

"What are you going to do with those?" Kari asked backing away from the bars as Iris had done.

"What do you think I'm gonna do, I'm gonna torture you." It said its eyes gleaming with a sick malice.

Kari felt like she was going to throw up, this was even worse than the time they were up against Apoclymon, but she knew not to give up hope. What would TK think if he could read her thoughts right now, she had to remember that his hopes were everybodyelses. She had to be strong, sure things looked hopeless but she couldn't let that stop her. Things had looked hopeless before and they had always managed to pull through. But then again she had had Tai with her then, or TK, how was she supposed to do this alone?

Iris glanced over at Kari, she looked sick and pale. Kari you can't give up hope now, everybody needs you. She thought to herself. What were they to do if Kari was to just give up? Iris hadn't know these children for long, but what she did know was that they depended heavily upon each other. And right now it was her job to keep them from falling apart. If they lost Kari they would be altogether lost, she was the voice of reason while everybody was arguing. The rest of the group seemed to look up to her, she couldn't let them down.

"Kari." She whispered over to her friend. Kari's head slowly turned to face her, her eyes filled with fear, her face as white as a ghost, "Kari don't worry, I'll get us out of this."

"I don't think so." Black Gatomon interrupted her. 

She nodded her head towards two Ninjamon that stood just behind her. They both nodded and jumped in the air, disappearing from their view. 

Iris turned her attention back to Kari, trying to relieve her worry with a small smile. A sharp pain suddenly shot down her spine from the base of her neck. She fell to the ground as her limbs went weak and her vision got blurry. The last thing she saw before blacking out completely was the other Ninjamon inflicting the same pain on Kari. She gasped in shock and with her last ounce of strength reached her hand through the bars and gently brushed it against Karis'.

**

"Melodye, are you okay?" Cody asked for the umpteenth time. 

He knew something was wrong with her but he couldn't figure out what it was. Ever since that morning she'd been unnaturally quiet, even for her. When he had first woken up she had been sitting, staring intently into the forest. Her legs huggled tightly up against her body and goose bumps covering her face and arms. He had known something was wrong with her, any one, even Davis could tell that much but she refused to tell him what it was. She stubbornly insisted that it was merely a headach, but he knew better than that. 

"I told you I'm fine." She replied slightly irritated. 

"Melodye I'm only trying to help." Cody whispered staring at the ground. 

Melodye stopped and watched his back as he continued ahead of her. It was true she wasn't alright, that ghost she had seen had scared the pants off her and she wasn't about to forget it. But if she told him he'd just think she was crazy, she did want to tell him, she had to get this off her back but who would believe a story like that? 

"I know you're just trying to help Cody but I'm fine really. it's just a headach." She said jogging to catch up with him.

"Well do you want to stop and rest?" He asked innocently. 

"No I don't want to hold you up, you must be very worried about Armadillomon and what about Gatomon?" Melodye said tapping her fingers together. 

If he didn't believe her story she'd have to tell him the truth and as much as she did want to tell him she didn't think he was ready for it. He would just think she had gone crazy and get her in trouble for holding them up. She couldn't let them down just because of her wild imagination.

"Don't worry about us, Armadillomon is strong, he'll be okay and Kari's got TK and Davis to look after her she'll be okay but you don't look so good." He turned towards Gatomon who lead their party, "Gatomon can we stop…"

"Wait no it doesn't matter." Melodye cut him off, "It's alright. I'm alright really." 

Gatomon stopped and turned to face them. Her blue eyes focused only on finding Kari. 

"What do you want to stop for?" She asked irritated.

"Nothing it doesn't matter, lets keep going." Melodye said walking up next to Gatomon.

"No Melodye." Cody said grabbing her shoulder, "Gatomon Melodye's sick and she needs to rest."

Gatomon looked up at Melodye who was making distressed faces at Cody. 

"She doesn't look sick to me." She stated.

"That's because I'm not." Melodye said turning to face the direction the were currently heading, "Now lets get a move on."

Gatomon looked over to Cody, he was staring at Melodye's back almost as if he could make her stay just by staring at her. But it obviously had no effect as she was still charging ahead of them, Flamon following shortly behind. Now that she thought about it Flamon had been unusually quiet. Through this whole thing she not once stood up for Melodye, or Cody. It was as if she was just totally consumed in her own little world. But that didn't matter right now all that mattered was finding Kari before those idiots Davis and Veemon got her into too much trouble. And knowing them it wouldn't be long before they were being tracked down by a thousand bounty hunters of all sorts. She really had to find Kari.

"Well come on Cody she not going to stop now." Gatomon said walking after the hotheaded teenager.

Cody sighed in defeat and followed after them. He couldn't understand why Melodye wouldn't stop, if she had something bothering her wouldn't she wasn't to talk about it? Or if she was sick wouldn't she wasn't to stop and rest? It wasn't like she owed Kari or Gatomon anything so why was she so determined to find them. It was obvious she wasn't telling him something and he wasn't ready to go to really great lengths to find it out. But seeing someone so disorientated made him feel bad. Especially after how she had been when he had woken up, it was as if she'd seen a ghost. She was as pale as death and shaking like a leaf but she acted as if nothing was the matter. 

"Holy cow…" Cody halted his brooding to respond to Melodye's voice, "Take a look at this." She exclaimed from farther in the forest.

Cody jogged over to where she stood and marveled at the surrounding landscape. The forest just dropped away at a border to meet the plains that lay ahead. They might have once been lush green but what met them was a dead land. No grass grew here; and the bits that did were tough and brown. The land had been scorched black from under the baking sun and the tall eucalyptus trees that stood now few and far between had been stripped of their leaves and stood as bare skeletons in the lonely plains. 

"This place looks dead." Gatomon observed.

"I think we were heading in the wrong direction." Cody pointed out scanning the horizon for any signs of life. 

"But how do we know they haven't been here?" Melodye asked herself scanning the dead lands.

"Wouldn't they have left some sort of trail?" Cody said shaking his head.

"I don't know but what's that?" Gatomon asked shading her eyes from the blinding sun to look over the horizon.

"What's what?" Melodye asked following Gatomon's eyes to look out over the plains.

"That building." Gatomon said pointing out into the plains.

"I don't see any building." Cody said shading his eyes to get a better look.

"Come on I wanna check it out." Gatomon jumped out of the forest and started running across the plains.

"Hey wait for us." Melodye yelled running after her. 

This is it Gatomon you've found them. Gatomon thought to herself as she galloped over the dead grass and dirt. They have to be here; hopefully Davis hasn't gotten them into too much trouble. She ran closer the building now in sight even for those slow humans. Only a few more feet now. Gatomon ran closer finally stopping at the side wall to catch her breath. She leaned against the wall and watched as the humans slowly made their way across the plains. They were so slow. 

She laid her head on the side wall breathing heavily from her recent run. She shook her head slightly trying to avoid the oncoming headache. She could feel the tension building strangely fast in her temples. This was very strange, it hurt so much and it came so quickly. She pressed her paws on the side of her head to relieve the pain, but it only grew. 

She let out a small cry and fell to her knees. What was this excruciating pain? Where did it come from? That's when it struck her. Her whole body shook violently with shivers, her body flushed with a cold sweat. It was that feeling, the same feeling she got from Myotismon. The feeling of evil. 

It swept over her like wildfire. Every part of her shook and ached with white-hot pain. Why was she so defenseless against this evil, what was it that cold make it so powerful? Her head started to spin faster and faster until she started to feel giddy and sick. She opened her eyes but everything was blurry as if someone had just got everything and spun it around really fast to make it blur. She fell to the ground a shivering helpless heap. The last this she saw before completely losing it was Melodye's emerald green eyes staring down at her in shock. Then it was gone.


	11. Game of Pain

Chapter 11: Game of Pain

Chapter 11: Game of Pain

"Alright Veemon you ready?" Davis yelled holding his D3 out in front of him. 

He had been waiting almost one and a half days for this; he couldn't wait any longer. He'd finally get revenge on those blasted Airdramon for taking Kari away. After their fight with them all of the digimon had been hurt and they couldn't go after them straight away. But now Veemon was fully healed and they were ready to fly. They still hadn't Clive, when they had gone back to the camp site there was no sign of him, Wraithmon or Armadillomon. They'd probably walked heedlessly off into the forest, led by that idiot Clive; no doubt he'd get them lost. But Davis didn't have time to worry about them; he had a mission, to find Kari.

"You betcha!" Veemon replied jumping up in the air and being engulfed by the light from Davis D3 he called, "Veemon digivolve to… Exveemon." The light faded and Veemon had been replaced by his larger counterpart. 

"Come on Wormmon!" Ken said holding out his Black digivice.

"Right" Wormmon said back preparing himself for the transformation. 

The familiar purplish light flew out of Ken's digivice and hit Wormmon, surrounding and cloaking him from them, "Wormmon digivolve too… Stingmon." 

"You ready Ken?" Davis asked his friend, holding up his digivice. Ken nodded in reply and held up his own to face Davis'.

Each digivice shot out a ray of light, one blue the other purple. They hit each other and spread out to engulf Exveemon and Stingmon. Exveemon could feel the power of the digivice well up in him until he could no longer contain it. 

"Exveemon DNA digivolve to…" He said blue and green bubbles spinning wildly around him.

"Stingmon DNA digivolve too…" He heard his partner say as the bubbles surrounded him as well. 

Exveemon closed his eyes as the two merged together. This always overwhelmed him. Knowing exactly what the other digimon was feeling, thinking hearing, saying, everything, it scared him sometimes. Knowing that Stingmon could hear what he was thinking right at this moment as they merged to become one. 

He could sometimes feel the inner torment that Stingmon had gone through as Wormmon. The way he pictured Ken as the only thing that mattered above everything, even himself. The way that everything he did, everything he aspired to do was t please Ken, to make him happy after failing him that one time. He still thought Ken didn't want him as his digimon, that as soon as he found another digimon stronger or better looking he'd ditch him and go off with that one. 

But Exveemon couldn't blame him, he had felt the same way when Patamon had digivolved into Angemon, and when he was the only digimon that couldn't fly, he felt he was letting Davis down. But now who was the one that could fly? He sure showed that snooty little Patamon.

He squeezed his eyes tighter, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. He tried his best to forget all his worries, he knew he could trust Wormmon. He concentrated on digivolving. He felt the small bubbles swirl around him more and disappear to reveal his new form.

"Paildramon!" They shouted together. 

"Come on just once more." Davis said his digivice still held out in front of him.

"Yeah you can do it." Ken joined in.

Paildramon squeezed its eyes together tightly feeling the power of Zolongmon surge up from deep within it's body.

"Paildramon Mega-digivolve too…" Paildramon's features started to change as an image of Zolongmon swirled around it, "Imperialdramon!" It finished landing next to Davis on the cliff.

"Alright let's get this show on the road!" Davis yelled jumping on Imperialdramon's back along with Ken, TK, Patamon and Polarmon

"Hold on tight." Imperialdramon said as it took off at the speed of light over the mountain range. 

"Davis do you have any idea where we're going?" TK asked looking out the window at the blurry scenery below.

"Well not really, but when we get there I'll know." He said hopefully, his eyes frantically scanning the mountains below for anything that wasn't a big grey blur.

"How are you going to know we're there if you can't see anything?" Ken asked, his eyes too scanning the blur below them.

"Hey Imperialdramon you wanna slow it down a bit I can't see anything while your going this fast!" Davis yelled out to Imperialdramon.

"Sorry Davis." It replied slowing down slightly. But not enough so they could see the scenery below.

"I still can't see anything." TK pointed out.

"Eh don't worry," Davis said pulling away from the window to sit on the ground, "I'm sure Imperialdramon can see something or it wouldn't be able to fly this fast."

Davis rested his head in his hands. When were they going to find Kari? He missed her already. Although he was supposed to be forgetting about the feelings he had for her, he just couldn't. Veemon had been right, if he didn't stop this soon he'd go crazy. He knew TK and Kari had a thing, not a relationship, just a thing and everyone thought he didn't know, but he did. Everyone thought he didn't notice the way they made eyes with each other or how when they thought no one was looking they'd flash each other little smile, mocking smiles, about him and how stupid he was. And how he was stupid he was to think he could even get a chance with Kari.

Davis sighed in defeat; there was nothing for him now. If he couldn't have Kari's affection then he'd just be a hollow shell. A hollow shell going about Davis normal life, it'd look like him, sound like him and even act like him. But it'd just be a shell, a body without a heart, or a soul, without meaning or direction. Just floating. Veemon was so right, if he kept thinking like this he'd probably lead himself into suicide, or some other 'untimely' death. Kari wasn't that good was she? She had her flaws just like everyone else. Of course he couldn't think of any right now, but if he had some more time he could probably find something wrong with her, but he would need a lot of time. 

"I think I see something." Imperialdramon's voice broke him from his brooding.

Davis jumped up from his seat and was immediately at the window. Now, instead of the mountain range that had met them at the edge of the forest, huge brown plains soared underneath them. The landscape looked so dead, like a desert. Nothing grew here apart from a few tufts of brown grass and skeleton trees. How could Imperialdramon see anything here when nothing could possible live out here.

"What is it?" Ken asked his face plastered against the window.

"I don't know it just looks like a brick house."

"I can't see anything." TK said

"Hold on." Imperialdramon replied speeding up slightly. 

He came to a sudden stop sending everyone flying to the back of the room. Davis peeled himself off the floor and rubbed the back of his head. 

"You think you could make that landing any more painful?" Davis shouted up at Imperialdramon.

"Sorry." Imperialdramon apologized opening the hatch to let the humans out, immediately de-digivolving back into Chibamon and Leafmon.

"What is this place?" Davis asked walking up a small bluff to the lonely brick building.

"It looks like a jail." TK said noticing a barred window in the center of the brick wall.

"What's in there?" Davis jumped up and grabbed hold of the bars lifting himself up to see inside.

It was a pitifully small cell, only about the size of his toilet, and it didn't even have one. It appeared to be one of many cells that lined the walls of the building. The walls and bars seemed to be in serious need of repair. The bars had rust covering them and the walls were covered with crack and holes.

"What's in there?" Kan asked walking up next to Davis. 

"Nothing." Davis said jumping down from the window.

"Did you see a way in?" TK asked walking to the edge of the building and disappearing around the side.

"Well I didn't see one," Davis said following TK.

"Here we go." TK mumbled locating a door on the opposite side. He tugged on the solid metal handles trying to move the rusted doors. But they refused to budge. He groaned and dug his heels into the ground using his weight to pull on the doors, but still they didn't move.

"Little help." He groaned letting go of the handles.

"C'mon Ken." Davis said motioning to Ken.

The three boys set themselves around the door, each holding onto a handle. 

"Okay on the count of three" TK said positioning himself again, "I… 2… 3"

On TK's count they all started to pull on the door. It gave a loud groan of protest as it started to open. It was obvious it hadn't been used in a long time and mould and rust had encrusted around the edges. It creaked and shuddered as the boys managed to unjar it and pull it open. 

Davis let go of the handle, stumbling to catch his balance. He stood up straight and glanced into the dimly lit cellblock. It was just as it had looked through the window, small dirty and in serious disrepair. 

"What is this place?" Davis asked walking heedlessly into the dingy cellblock.

"Did the others come here?" Ken asked following Davis.

"I don't think this place had been used in a while." TK said wiping a thick layer of dust off one of the small cots that lined the wall.

"Well this was a big waste of time." Patamon commented flying over their heads to the back of the room.

"Are we ever going to find Kari?" Davis asked himself sighing and leaning against the wall. 

He fingered the small cracks in the bricks as she sat up against the moldy wall. How were they supposed to find Kari now, they had absolutely no idea where those Airdramon had taken her. Just flying around looking for them was useless, they could have already passed them and not even know it. If Tai were here he'd know what to do, Davis had to face it he was a terrible leader. No one listened to anything he said anymore, even if they did before. It was all about TK. TK was the perfect one, the one with all the good plans, the one Kari admired. But Davis wasn't going to let that pretty boy get away with it anymore!

Davis stood up stamping his foot on the ground; sending small bits of cement flying from the cracks in the wall. He couldn't just give up, what would Tai think of him? What would Kari think of him? He had to do something right away!

"Davis you're a genius!" TK said running up to him and slapping him on the back.

Davis stared dumbfounded as TK admired his 'knowledge'. This must be the first step to stardom; from now on he was going to think positive about everything.

"I should have thought of that!" TK said slapping himself on the head, "I bet they're down there." He took off past Davis. Right in to the wall behind him.

"Of course," Ken yelled running after TK.

Why were they running into the wall? Davis slowly turned around; so many possibilities going through his head, at this point nothing would surprise him. He was met with, instead of a large dirty brick wall, a narrow, dimly lit stairway. Where it lead, Davis didn't know, but TK was right; Kari might be down there.

He plunged himself into the darkness, heedless of anything that stood in his way; he had to get to Kari before anything happened to her.

**

Yolie had never been a big fan of hiking, but she didn't exactly hate it. Not until now, they had been walking through the dark wet forest for almost four days now; it was too much for Yolie to handle. Not only was she missing her soap operas but also her feet hurt and she hadn't had a decent meal since she came here. If it were up to her she'd never go hiking again, if she ever saw another tree she swore she would puke. 

"Hawkmon can we stop now." She whined. 

She knew it was useless but she had to try, ever since she had seen that ghost the forest had gotten slowly thicker and thick until every step she took she'd get hit by a branch or trip over a tree root or get scratched by spiky vines and flowers. But Hawkmon didn't even seen to notice he just kept on walking like metronome. He was completely dead to the world, to her. She had been trying for the last hour and a half to get his attention, but her complaints lay on deaf ears. 

He said he was following the trail the others had left, but she couldn't see any trail, it was all just trees and trees and more trees. If the others had lasted this long on the trail with Davis she'd eat her hat. No one could last this long with Davis even if they weren't hiking through a thick, hot, trailess forest. A forest that made noises and was dark and scary.

Yolie's head darted from side to side; she had just successfully scared herself again. Usually it wasn't this bad though, this time she could actually hear voices. Usually she would imagine ghosts and evil looking digimon were watching her from afar, their eyes glowing purple like that Meramon they had fought. Whenever the wind howled through the trees she would picture ghost and ghouls swirling around her like bats. But of course it was all in her head, is what Hawkmon would say. But this time it was more real than before. The voices were clear; not clear enough to hear what they were saying, but clear enough to know they were very close by.

"Hawkmon." Yolie whispered, not catching the birds' attention at all, "Hawkmon I can hear voices."

To Yolie's complete surprise, Hawkmon stopped his mechanical pace and turned to face her.

"Where?" He asked, completely serious.

Yolie was so taken aback with surprise she could barely reply. She managed to point a shaky finger in the directions of the voices. Real or not Hawkmon actually listened to her this time. He followed the direction she was pointing with his eyes, trying to locate the voices. He froze for a moment, listening then, like a bullet took off into the underbrush. Yolie tried her best to keep up with him but she was much too big. She lost sight of him for a moment, but she soon found him again. 

"Clive?" Yolie whispered here eyes big with amazement. 

Hawkmon had done it; he had found them! Sure it wasn't all of them, but it was good enough for her. To Clive's amazement Yolie ran up to him and slung her arms around his shoulders and started crying into his shirt.

"I thought I'd never see anyone again I was so scared and tired and my feet hurt oh you have no idea how terrible it was." She blubbered hugging Clive so tight he could barely breath. 

"Get off me women!" Clive shouted pushing her away and wiping his clothes with the back of his hands.

"Where is everyone?" she asked, her anguish and tears immediately forgotten.

Clive stared at her for a moment before turning his back and shrugging his shoulders. Yolie could hardly believe it. She had walked all this way, gone through all that torment just to find Clive, with no one else. 

"What do you mean you don't know?" She screamed grabbing his shirt and glaring at him.

"I didn't say I didn't know." He said turning his head to the side and closing his eyes to avoid her piercing gaze.

"So where are they?" She asked tightening her grip on his shirt.

"I don't know." He replied smartly folding his arms across his chest.

Yolie's blood boiled. Not only was she tired, hungry and frustrated but also she was stuck with this cocky, arrogant smart-ass. Anyone within a twenty-mile radiance of them could tell Clive was in for a lot of yelling on behalf of his female counterpart.

"Settle down Yolie." He said pulling away from her death grip, "So who cares if everyone's not here? Well just find them." 

"How are we supposed to find them?" She yelled in his face, "Have you looked around yourself lately, we're stuck in a thick dark forest that has no end. There's absolutely no way out of here how are we supposed to find everyone?"

"We'll just get Hawkmon to digivolve, that's what you do in this dream world right? Whenever you're in trouble you get your little pals here to grow big and fly, so just get bigger, it cant be that hard you've done it before right?" 

"Well it's not that easy…" Hawkmon started looking up at Clive, "I haven't had a proper meal and I'm worn out from our walk. Digivolving takes up a lot of energy and I'm out." 

"Oh no we're doomed." Yolie yelled dramatically dropping to her knees and pulling at her hair.

"What's wrong with her? "Armadillomon asked shuffling away from her.

"She's just tired, I think if we get some rest I should be able to digivolve and Yolie might be in a better mood." 

Clive sat down next to the small fire Wraithmon had constructed. This was just what he needed right now a crazed woman yelling at him all night. It was hard enough to think with Wraithmon yapping away in his ear, but now this. He remembered some information his father had given him on one of their not to frequent father son talks. He said women were just like wild animals, especially when they were mad. They could smell fear; the best way to calm them down was to just agree with everything they said, and not to make eye contact. 

Clive shuddered as Yolie's screaming voice pierced the air once again. He lifted his eyes to watch the scene unfold. Wraithmon floated near Yolie, but far enough away to avoid her fists. She was carrying the same poorly woven flax bag filled with berries and fruit. Yolie however wasn't satisfied with only fruit and had almost broken down in tears over it. 

"Why does this always happen, I need real food not just berries." She whined clawing the ground ripping tufts of grass out with her fingernails.

"I'm sorry Yolie but this is all we've got." Wraithmon said setting the bag down in front of her.

Yolie slowly lifted her eyes up to meet Wraithmons, burning with a fiery rage. She lashed out trying to grab Wraithmon so she could squeeze the life out of the annoying little wraith but her hand merely passed through her sending shivers and Goosebumps up her arm. She stared in shock at Wraithmon for a moment before breaking down into hysterical tears.

"I'm so tired and I wanna go home." She wailed shaking her head violently messing up her long purple hair.

"Come on Yolie don't cry, now that I'm stronger I can digivolve and we can find the others." Hawkmon said patting her back.

Yolie raised her bleary tear stained eyes to meet Hawkmon. He did look a lot stronger, but how did he get so much better in such a short time. Yolie glanced over to where Wraithmon had set down the sack full of fruit. Now all was left was the broken bag, every morsel of food gone. Yolie looked back at Hawkmon, too tired to even show her anger.

"You ate all the food." She said weakly her eyes filling up with tears again.

"Oops." Hawkmon mumbled covering his beak with his wing.

"I'm so hungry…" She whispered curling up in a fetus position in the dirt, "…And tired."

She shivered once and started drifting off into a deep empty sleep. Her mind blank of everything but the fact that she wished she were home in her warm bed, with her chocolate and rice balls, and chocolate covered rice balls. Unfortunately she was woken from her exhausted daze by Wraithmon whispering softly in her ear.

"Yolie?" She asked her cold dead breath making Yolie shiver.

"Go away." She mumbled waving her hand in Wraithmons general direction.

"Yolie I got you some food." She whispered still.

Yolie's eyes shot open, her mind instantly kicking into gear at the thought of food. She sat up grabbing the overused basket off Wraithmon shoving the contents into her mouth like a crazy woman. She shoveled it in without any thought of taste or looks. She didn't care what it was, as long as it filled her up. At an inhumanly speed the food was gone and Yolie satisfied. She leaned back holding her stomach, she knew she was going to get indigestion now but she didn't care, as long as she wasn't that hungry ever again.

"Thank you Wraithmon." She said sighing and lying back down.

"Oh no your not going to sleep again." Clive said walking up next to her and glaring down at her.

"What do you mean, I haven't had a good sleep since I came here." She argued sitting up returning Clives hardened glare.

"You were asleep for eight hours how can you say you haven't had a good sleep?" 

"Eight hours?" Yolie echoed him; "Did I really sleep for that long?"

"Yes you did, and I'm not waiting for you any longer." Clive said keeping his eyes locked on Yolie's, "So either you get your rear into gear or you stay here and get eaten by some feral animal."

Yolie stared dumbfounded at Clive. He had been so nice before, well as nice as a guy like that could be, what was his problem? She shuffled nervously under his piercing glare. Why was he looking at her like that? She felt her cheeks go hot and knew she probably looked like a tomato right now.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked crossing his arms over his chest.

"Uh nothing…" She whispered pulling herself to her feet.

"Yolie are you ready?" Hawkmon asked tugging on her pants.

"Huh oh yeah." She mumbled blushing even brighter avoiding eye contact with Clive.

"Well…" Clive said impatiently tapping his foot on the ground.

"Right." She replied pulling out her D3. 

A red beam shot out hitting Hawkmon blocking him from view as he digivolved.

"Hawkmon digivolve to… Arquillamon." 

Arquillamon landed awkwardly in the forest, his large body barely fitting in the clearing they had been camped at. Yolie, Clive and Armadillomon climbed on his back, Wraithmon floating close by. Without a second thought from anyone they took off, leaving the dreaded forest far behind.

**

The world spun wildly around Gatomon as she fell deeper into the black hole. Darkness surrounded her on every side, trapping her within its claws. There was no escape from it, no escape from the claws. Gatomon looked around herself at the familiar surroundings and gasped. She hadn't been here for ages, since she found Kari, since she worked for Myotismon. She could never forget it though, the dirty walls, the cobwebs, Myotismon always liked his castle dirty and old. 

She walked around the familiar premises; she had walked these halls so many times before, running errands for that monster that dared call himself a digimon. Nothing could be more evil in her eyes; not even darkness was a dark as Myotismon. He made the darkness look like the brightest day. 

Suddenly the castle dropped away to be replaced only by his chuckle. Another thing she could never forget. His laugh was permanently etched into her brain. Every night in her nightmare (because she never had dreams) she would hear that laugh echo through her head like a ghost. And here it was again. I surrounded her on every side, bearing down on her like a giant. Each chuckle would send shivers down her spine, beating into her like fists. It gradually got louder and louder until it was unbearable, her ears drummed with each 'ha', her brain throbbing and her limbs aching.

"Gatomon…" His voice cut through the laughs, silencing them, "Gatomon…" He said again in his mocking cynical tone.

"Gatomon…" Gatomon rolled over on her side ignoring Melodye's sweet voice, "Gatomon are you awake?" 

Gatomon's eyes shot open as she sat up, knocking Melodye over. It was another dream, but she couldn't remember going to sleep.

"Your awake." Melodye said picking up the cloth that had flown from her head in her haste.

"How long have I been out?" Gatomon asked rubbing the sleep from her eyes, "And when did we stop for camp? The last thing I remember is… The cell block." 

She glanced around herself in the early morning light. She remembered now, they had found the cellblock, but once they got there she got a headache and must've passed out.

"You were out for about eight hours." Cody said from his seat against the cell wall.

"Was I really out for that long?" 

"Mmm Hmm." Melodye mumbled standing up and dusting herself off.

"Well what are we waiting for lets go find Kari." Gatomon said jumping to her feet with newly found vigor.

She lead them heedlessly around to the door that led into the small building. It looked a little broken and misused but it shouldn't be too much from them to handle.

"Okay everyone grab on and pull hard." She instructed grabbing onto one of the handles and pulling as hard as the little strength she had let her. The others followed without a word, but the door didn't budge. Rust and mould clogged up the crack in the two doors it would be virtually impossible from anything to open it.

"I can help." Flamon said flying over next to Gatomon, "I can digivolve."

Melodye pulled out her D3 holding it out in front of her, 

"Are you sure you can do this Flamon?" She asked hesitating a bit.

"Of course I can, you can count on me!" 

As soon as the words were spoken orange light burst forth from Melodye's digivice surrounding Flamon blocking her from view. Flamon could feel the power build up in her, it was this feeling she would never forget. The feeling of power, knowing that she could actually be of some help to Melodye and the others. She let the power inside her build until she couldn't contain herself anymore.

"Flamon digivolve too…" She started feeling her body change and morph into something stronger, her more powerful self, "Nichimon." She finished landing next to the door.

"Alright here I go…" She pulled her beak back readying her powerful fire blast, "Fire blast!" She yelled fire bursting from her beak and landing in the center of the door making it creak and groan.

"Alright we'll try again now." Gatomon said grabbing one of the handles again.

It groaned with reluctance but eventually the doors scraped apart, moss and rust falling from the cracks to the floor. They made their way slowly into the dimly lit cellblocks careful not to disturb anything. It reminded Gatomon of a graveyard, how they felt obliged not to talk or to move anything in memory of the poor souls that might have once inhabited this cell. Ken probably used it in his reign as the digimon emperor, she could picture digimon of all sorts locked in the tiny cells, deprived of food or sleep as the Digimon Emperors slaves. 

"There's nothing in here." Melodye observed, and she was right. Not a thing looked like it had been used in the last few years. Few digimon liked to visit the past, especially if it had been one of Ken's slaves. 

Gatomon shivered involuntarily shivered the fur on the back of her neck standing on end. She could feel her head start to throb and her vision get blurry. It was happening again, whatever had happened to her before was happening again. She felt another wave of shivers run up her spine and the room started to spin around her.

"So nice you could join me Gatomon." Someone's voice floated to her ears, making her shiver even more.

She had head that voice before but she couldn't remember when, everything seemed blurry at the moment and she couldn't focus her mind on any one thing. She could hear Melodye talking to her but her voice sounded so far away. 

"I see you've brought some friends, well I better not leave them out of the fun." The voice sounded again.

It was so alien to her, but yet so familiar as if she shared some bond with the voice speaker. Her heart pounded in her ears blocking every sound but that of the mocking feminine voice that ran through her head. It gave her the same sensation as Myotismon did; the same shivers and fears. It was filled with the same malice Myotismon's was the same sick twisted sense of evil that caught her and strangled her every night in her dreams. Where had she heard it before?

She was suddenly snapped from her dizziness and drawn to the far wall. She felt around for a moment with her paws locating the spot she needed. She slammed her paw down on a certain brick and the wall slid open revealing a dark stairway. Without another though of her own she ran down the stairs to meet the source of the voice. She raveled swiftly down the narrow corridor running with all the swiftness of her cat like body. She reached the bottom of the stairwell covering her eyes with her paws from the sudden burst of light that she was met with. She stumbled through the end of the passage blinking furiously to adjust to the blinding glare of the white walls.

"Ah here you are." The voice said making every muscle in her body tense. 

She glanced around the room for the source of the voice. Surprise washing over her features as she spotted the speaker. She remembered now where she had heard that voice, how could she forget. Memories and images flooded into her mind, overwhelming her causing her to stumble and land on her knees. 

"Silia…" She whispered staring up at the Black cat.

"That's right Chelsea, remember me? The black sheep of the family, the ugly duckling." 

"Silia what are you doing?" Gatomon asked pulling herself to her feet.

"Chelsea I'm surprised you even remember me, you were always mothers little pet." 

"Silia I-I…" gatomon trailed off gaping in awe at the little black Gatomon.

"What have you been doing with yourself hey Chelsea? I heard you joined up with those digidestined." 'Silia' said, that familiar cynical grin plastered on her face, just the way Gatomon remembered.

"Silia what have you been doing? Everyone thought you were dead." Gatomon said tears stinging the corners of her eyes, "We looked everywhere for you that day."

"Oh please don't even try to console me with your pathetic stories of how mother really did love me because I know for a fact that she didn't." Silia yelled to Gatomon spitting on the floor at her feet.

"Silia she did love you, she loved all of us." Gatomon pleaded, tears bubbling over her eyes and sliding down her furry cheek.

"Hmph, well it doesn't really matter now." She spat, "I'm here to finish off the last of the family that hated me."

"What do you mean by that?" Gatomon asked stepping back from Silia fear written in her eyes.

"Oh don't worry you'll find out soon enough, but first will you let me have some fun, for old times sake?" She stuck her claws in her mouth and let out a deafening whistle. 

Gatomon spun around in time to see a black blur fly her way. She tried to avoid whatever it was but a sharp pain shot down her spine and in an instant her limbs lost all feeling and she fell to the floor, blackness overcoming her.

**

Life was pain. Life had always been pain. But this pain exceeded all other pain felt by any human in history. Until this moment Kari had never even had a taste of real pain. Every hour of every day was filled with unimaginable pain of all sorts. Her body constantly ached with the memory of pain, and the anticipation of more pain. Kari wasn't sure how long she had been lying on her deathbed but every moment was torture. She would wake up with white-hot pain searing through all her veins, but she wasn't even sure when she had fallen asleep.

Sometimes, in the periods between torture and waking, which weren't many, she would glance over at Iris. Her vision was usually blurred with tears and weariness, but what she saw horrified her even beyond the pain she felt, for this pain was in her heart. Her friend, who she had no way of saving, lay like a corpse on a table, much like her own. Her skin, pale as death, cuts and bruises littered her skin like a disease. Her breathing was heavy, much like her own, and her body shook wit h every breath.

Kari wished so much TK were here. He was here to release her from this never-ending pain. To shed hope on her battered soul. She sometimes, when she woke to the pain would almost give up hope. Would almost give up her life to the pain, to the hell that surrounded her on every side. But she would look over to her friend, her friend that she was helpless to save, even if the solid metal bindings hadn't held her down. If TK were here he would renew the light that had lived inside her before the pain, but it was gone now. Everything had died with the pain. Her body and soul tortured beyond repair and thrown aside like a rag. But still she woke to the pain. 

Kari wasn't sure how long she lay there, every waking moment filled with pain. It could have been one week or it could have been one year, she didn't know. Time was of no importance next to the pain. The only thing keeping her alive was the hope that soon someone would come. TK, Davis Yolie, Cody, any of them would come and stop the pain, or she'd die. Shed die like everything else. She'd fall like a bug under a shoe; there was no winning in this game of pain.

But one day it stopped. It stopped for a while. She wasn't sure what happened, but she woke to pain again. After waking for the umpteenth time to pain she was not greeted with the unbearable torture tools. Instead there was silence. Silence like she'd never heard. She turned her head to glance at Iris, but she too, like the pain, was gone. She gasped with one of her long deep breaths. Where had they taken her? What had they done with her? Was she dead? They were all thoughts running wildly through Kari's tired weakened mind. What was she to do? She tried to sit up, and to her complete surprise her bindings were gone, nothing held her down but her weak muscles and stiff limbs. 

She sat up leaning heavily on her hands for support. For once she could look around and observe her surroundings; not that this was a place she particularly wanted to remember. The torture chamber was a small dimly lit cellar, probably meant for wine or storage. In the middle of the room two metal beds sat, which was what she had been lying on for the last pain filled forever. On the wall large metal instruments hung, warning her of the pain that was surely to come. 

She hopped down from the bed, her shaky legs barely holding her weight. The floor was damp and mossy under her bare feet. She wasn't sure where her shoes or clothes had gone, but at some point she had been issued with a gown, once white but now covered with spots of her own, or someone else's blood. She took a few shaky steps, like a child first learning to walk, but collapsed on the next table. Her legs had been immobile for so long she couldn't remember over the pain how to use them. She pulled herself to her feet again depending heavily on the table. She glanced around the room again, locating a door on the opposite wall. She took a deep breath preparing herself for the pain that was to follow and pushed herself away from the table stumbling over to the door. She grabbed onto the doorframe to support herself breathing heavily from the effort it took her to walk. 

She glanced through the door, down the dark passage it led to. She couldn't remember through her fuzzy memory of the last few days this door ever being here. But of course she could have easily over looked it. She took another long shaky breath pushing away from the doorframe trying to support herself on her own. She feared her legs would give out on her but they managed to hold. She walked slowly down the dark passage, each step carefully placed to avoid anything she could possibly trip on. The passage almost seemed to go on forever. Eventually light broke the darkness, blinding Karis eyes. She blinked a few times trying to adjust to the sudden burst of light that flooded into the passage. Here eyes had been so used to the dim light of the cell that this light made her eyes water. 

She shaded her face walking closer still to the light it growing bigger as she closed in on the source. She broke out of the passage into a large pure white room. The glare created by the lights was almost too much for her. She closed her eyes rubbing them with the back of her hand. She squinted against the blinding glare waiting for her eyes to focus and adjust to the light. Everything soon came into focus, some things still blurry but mostly clear. She could barely even start to examine the room before a spinchillingly familiar voice cut through the air.

"Nice you could join us Kari." Black Gatomon said in her cynical voice.

Kari located the little cat giving it the most piercing glare she could muster. She was the cause of all her pain; the reason life seemed so dull right now. The reason her light had faded so much so couldn't even stand it anymore. The reason Iris was in pain, the reason she couldn't save her.

"You." She whispered memories of pain filling her head until a blind rage consumed everything, "You're the reason." 

"What? The reason for what?" She asked her voice dripping with a pleased sarcasm.

"You the reason I couldn't help her." Kari yelled up at Gatomon, "You're the reason the light hurts my eyes! You'll pay for this!"

"Kari…" A weak voice pleaded bringing Kari from her rage. 

Kari glanced around her until she found the source of the voice. Chained to the far wall with thick metal chains was Iris. She looked so tired and hurt Kari could barely tell it was her. She looked directly into Kari's eyes her own pleading and hurt. Kari could barely recognize her friend in the state she was in. Her usually perfect hair was messed up around her face, her body soaked with sweat and blood. But her eyes scared Kari the most. For as long as she had know Iris, which wasn't particularly long her eyes had always had this glow to them, a charisma almost that drew you to them. But now, after the blinding mental and physical torture she had gone through her eyes seemed dull. They looked glazed and the color had faded, but most of all the life had drained out of them, the glow that had once drawn her to them like bugs to a fire was gone.

"You monster." Kari whispered shaking her head, "What kind of monster would do this?" 

"Kari…" Iris whispered lifting her head slightly, "Kari don't worry about me…"

"Iris…" Kari whispered back, tears forming on the side of her eyes. 

This was her chance. This was her chance to finally save her, save her from the blinding pain she had been put through. Kari started slowly making her way over to Iris, each step getting faster and faster until she was almost running.

"Kari no… "Iris whispered, "Kari it's a… trap."

"Take one more step…" Gatomon said halting Kari's progress, "And your friends will die." 

Kari spun around to face Black Gatomon to find the door she had entered through gone, replaced by a wall holding Cody, Melodye, Flamon and Gatomon.

"You monster let them go what did they do to you?" Kari yelled.

"Kari don't worry about us save yourself." Cody said struggling against the metal chains that pinned him to the wall.

What was she supposed to do? How was she ever going do this? If Tai were here he would know what to do he always did. But he wasn't, she was on her own and she had to realize that. If she saved Iris then the other would die, but if she saved the others Iris would have to die. She couldn't handle all this pressure, how was she supposed to make a decision like this? She didn't want any of her friends to die, but she owed it to Iris to save her, she couldn't release her from the pain before so now was her chance. But if she did she'd be writing on the others tombstones. She couldn't condemn them to death just because of her selfish needs. What was she supposed to do?

"Take me." She said. 

She didn't even know where that had come from but now that she had said it, it had made a lot of sense. To take just one life than all of them made a lot of sense. It was just like the time when Davis had volunteered to sacrifice himself to save them, even though they were actually just Bakemon. At the time it hadn't made a lot of sense to her, she got the basic point but what feelings compelled him to do such a selfless thing she now understood. The fear that was involved, the fear of having the blood of your companions on your hands was too much for anyone to handle. The fear of choosing the wrong person or having everyone else blame it on you was too much.

"Kari no." She heard Gatomon call. 

She turned to face her digimon partner. Gatomon had been so good to her, she had got her and the others out of more jams than she could count on her fingers and toes. And she had been a friend; a friend when she was in need, a friend that she knew would be there forever, in body and spirit. How could she let her die like that? How could she possibly have to choose her best friend in the whole world?

"Kari don't do it!" Cody yelled out.

How could she choose Cody either? They may not be that close but he had been there like all her other friends. How could she have the burden of sacrificing such an innocent soul on her shoulders? How would she be able to live with herself knowing she was the reason Cody missed his mothers' macaroni and Cheese? Kari could feel the tears well up and spill over her eyes. 

"Kari don't worry about us!" Melodye and Flamon shouted in unison.

She may not have known those two for very long but having to kill someone like that was too much for her to handle. She could only imagine what her family in America would think if they found out their child had gone missing in Japan and never found again. The tears ran freely down her cheeks now, she could barely contain her wracking sobs as she turned to Iris, the one she owed the most.

"Kari…" She whispered, "Don't worry about me… save yourself and the others." 

How could she have let this go so far? How could she let her friend down so much so she had to go through so much pain? She knew; she knew what it was like to go through that pain, and she did not want anyone else to. But Iris knew the pain as well and Kari had been helpless to save her. She didn't even try, all she did was lay there absorbed in her own pain, completely oblivious to the pain they were causing her friend.

"No, I'm not going to let them hurt you anymore." She choked out coughing from the pain her sobs gave her.

"Very well." Black Gatomon said sitting back in the large chair she occupied, "I'll take you, and your friends." She said smiling mockingly down at Kari.

"No, No that's not the way it goes." Kari screamed up at her, "Take me and let my friends go!" 

"Oh but that wouldn't be half as fun." She teased, "Then I'd only have one subject."

"Let them go!" Kari screamed in vain falling to her knees in the middle of the cold metal floor, "Please let them go."

"Hmm I'll think about it." She teased some more, a malicious grin spreading over her face, "But you have to beg me."

"I already am." Kari whispered, her body shaking violently with sobs, "Please, I beg of you, let my friends go."

"I…" Black Gatomon started but she was interrupted as the wall Cody and the others were hanging from burst into a million pieces, releasing them from their binds.

"What is this?" Black Gatomon asked standing up on her chair.

"Kari what are you doing on the ground?" Kari heard Davis ask. 

She lifted her head, her hair falling messily around her face. Her eyes brightened at the sight of her savior, her knight in shining armor. TK…


	12. Trell

Chapter 12: Trell

Chapter 12: Trell

Iris groaned rubbing her hair out of her face and rolling over in her warm soft bed. As she did the sheets covering her body slid off leaving her feeling bare and cold. She shivered and reached over the side of the bed searching for the sheets with her hand. As she did her hand landed on something soft and warm, something much to solid to be her sheets. She pried her tired red eyes open, closing them as soon as she did from the bright morning light that flooded into her vision, nearly blinding her. She tried again, blinking a few times to adjust to the bright light. She groaned and yawned sitting up and stretching her arms out. She quickly regretted it though as pain shot through her arm and stomach making her flinch. 

"That probably wouldn't be a good idea right now." Someone beside her bed said holding her shoulder and gently forcing her back down. 

She glanced around the room in confusion, not making eye contact with the other party. Where was she? This place looked familiar, the wooden walls and roof, the scenery out the glass window, it all looked very familiar but she couldn't put her finger on it. In fact she couldn't even remember going to sleep, she couldn't remember anything except that cell, with Kari. She finally looked over to the person beside her bed her eyes falling on Davis' familiar chestnut eyes. But they somehow looked different. Sadder, tired, the glow was gone.

"Where are we?" She asked involuntarily glancing around the small room again.

"You should get some rest." He said pushing her gently back down onto the bed replacing the sheets on top of her. 

"How did I get here?" She asked lying reluctantly back on her elbows.

"Get some rest and everything will be explained." He replied standing up from the side of her bed and walking over to the door.

"Wait Davis." She called out sitting back up again, "What's going on here?"

"Get some rest." He said more forcefully this time spinning around to look her in the eyes, "You wouldn't get that much information from me anyway." She said softer bowing his head and quickly exiting the room.

Despite her reluctance Iris could feel her eye lids get heavy as she let out a yawn. Where was she and how did she get here? She wanted answers but Davis was right, she'd have to find out later. Without another though she laid her head on the soft pillow and was asleep.

**

"Iris," The voice called beckoning her, "Iris…"

Iris glanced around her at the unfamiliar surroundings. She stood on a large cliff overlooking a lush green valley. Birds flew below her sweeping over the trees and cliffs effortlessly. She walked dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, looking out over the beautiful scenery below. A river, as blue as the sky ran through the valley, disappearing behind a mountain in the distance. Everything looked so beautiful and perfect as if she had walked into a painting and everything had come to life.

One thing bothered her though. In the distance, so far she could barely make it out, a purple cloud stained the perfect green mountains. She could feel it; the waves of energy it emitted gave her shivers. She shielded her eyes as her hair blew around her face. It didn't move, or grow it just hovered ominously over the lush green valley like and omen. The wind grew stronger and colder, but Iris hardly noticed her mind focused on the black, purple cloud.

"Iris…" The voice called her again. 

She looked around her but there was no speaker, just the wind and the trees. 

"Iris…" It called again. 

It seemed to come from all sides of her, echoing off the walls of the cliffs and reverberating to her ears. And it came across with the wind whispering into her ears and through her hair blowing it about her face. She glanced back at the cloud, was it speaking to her?

"Iris…" It called in its sweet voice beckoning her to come. 

She felt mesmerized by the voice. Compelled to follow it to see the speaker. To gaze upon the being with a voice like the most beautiful angel of all the heavens. 

"Iris…"

Iris took another step closer to the edge of the cliff, feeling as the wind blew the voice through her hair and over her face. She could bath in this voice for a lifetime. It drifted again to her ears, beckoning her closer to the valley, and the cloud. Willingly she stepped again; now precariously close to the cliff. The wind blew stronger than before bringing the voice to her with such vehemence, but still she was drawn closer. It called her one last time indicating for her to move closer still over the cliff. And despite the warnings in her head she stepped falling gracefully over the edge the wind carrying her down.

"Iris!" 

Iris sat up her eyes shooting open, her lungs heaving for air. She glanced around the empty room clutching the sheets that covered her tightly. Her body dripped with a cold sweat that soaked her clothes and sheets. 

Once her breathing lightened she took time to take in the surroundings. She was in that same familiar room she had been in when she had first woken up. Out the window vast green plains rolled by, unlike the ones she had seen out the window in that cell.

She thought back to what happened, Her memory being triggered by anything. She couldn't remember much, mostly just pain. She could remember being held in a cell, with Kari, but everything after that became blurry. Vague memories of dimly lit rooms and disfigured faces drifted to her, but over everything the memory of pain stood out. 

Unimaginable pain, like nothing she had felt before. Torture tools, that seemed to jump out of the most inventive horror movies screaming before her. Monsters that only children could see appeared before her eyes as relentless pain shot through her body. 

She wasn't sure how long it had lasted but it had seemed forever. Strapped to a hard, cold metal table, her limbs so weak she couldn't even attempt escaping. Watching as faceless monsters tortured her best friend, and not even being able to move. Waking up, without even falling asleep to pain. All these things flooded back to her.

It was all too much for her; she felt like crying, but no tears came. She felt like screaming, but her voice wouldn't work. She could only sit there as nightmarish memories barraged her mind; tortured, corrupted her soul. She rocked back and forth on the bed, her limbs stiff from so long with out being moved. Her eyes glazed over as if her mind had been turned off and left somewhere else. 

Voices floated to Iris' ears; but they were muffled, as if the speakers were underwater. Slowly she focused her mind on the voices, trying to grasp what they were saying. She blinked and focused her eyes on the door; it was slightly ajar allowing a thin strip of light in. She located the voices, still muffled and unidentifiable, but clear. 

She shakily pushed the sheets of her body, moving her legs around to place them on the floor. She breathed deeply, gathering all the strength she could; she felt so weak, but she pulled herself off the bed and stood next to it. She held tightly onto the head of the bed, supporting her most of her weight on it. Her limbs still ached from the pain, but she ignored it. 

She walked slowly over to the door, falling on the frame and supporting her weak body on it. She glanced out the small crack in the door out to where the voices were coming from. Sitting around a small wooden table, Davis, Kari, TK and another man sat. She couldn't see who the other person was, his back was turned to her, but he seemed familiar somehow. She shook the feeling concentrating on their conversation. 

"Do you think she'll be okay?" Davis asked leaning forward on the table and rubbing his temples.

He looked terrible, Iris noticed. His eyes were red, probably from lack of sleep; and dark rings surrounded them. His skin looked unnaturally pale and sweat glistened on his forehead. His hair was a mess, if it could get any worse; and his eyes looked dead, glazed, as if he hadn't slept in lazed, as if he hadn't slept in replied.

Again familiarity struck Iris; where had she heard that voice before? She studied the man, digging deeply into her memory for anything. His long brown hair spread over his back, being held at the base of his neck by a thick leather band. She couldn't see anything else; his face completely concealed by his body. Her head hurt too much for her to worry, she could barely focus her attention on the conversation.

"I could have done something." Kari said leaning on TK her eyes filling up with tears, "I was right there and I couldn't do anything."

She shouldn't be crying. Iris' had been right there but couldn't help her at all. She could feel tears build up in her own eyes; why was Kari crying? She shouldn't feel guilty; it should be her there apologizing for her weakness. She had seen her; watched as those monsters tortured her. But she had merely lain there, helpless, weak. She didn't even try to help. She was weak; she didn't deserve Karis' tears.

"Kari you couldn't do anything, you were just as hurt as she was… there was nothing you could do," TK said trying to calm her down, "It wasn't your fault."

He was right; it wasn't Karis' fault. It was hers. She had done nothing; lay there as Kari writhed in pain. Lay there as she was inflicted with physical and mental torture. She knew what it felt like, but she had been helpless. Helpless to stop it.

"He's right," The man said, "We can't be sure right now, we don't know if she has been infected by the virus. She hasn't shown all the symptoms yet so there still might be hope."

"How can you be so sure?" Davis said pulling at his hair, "She could be rotting away right now and your saying there's no need to worry?"

"You're wrong Davis," He shot back standing up from his chair, "There may be no cure for the virus, but I know. I've seen people; digimon affected by this virus and let me tell you something it is not a pretty sight. We need to have as much faith as possible that she is strong enough to escape the virus or she will fall victim."

"How can we have faith when her life is at stake?" Davis yelled back, "What are the chances of her not being affected by the virus? Hmm say it again Trell… What are the chances?"

Trell? Was that really him? Iris stepped back from the door; all this was too much. What was it they had been talking about? Were they talking about her? What was this virus they spoke of? Was that really Trell? The same Trell that had raised her, nurtured her like a little sister?

Memories involuntarily came flooding back into Iris' head. In her mind she saw that same familiar scene that had haunted her since that fateful day. She saw herself as a child, no more than nine years old; standing, crying outside a burnt down house. She knew this scene well; it was the night after the Tyrannomon had attacked. 

After she had come into the digital world she had met Trell. She wasn't exactly sure how he came to the digital world but he had rescued her from a pack of Wolfmon. She had been so scared and lost, she had cried for two weeks straight when she had been transported. But Trell helped her; he took her into a small cottage he had found and they lived there together. 

But fate had played a cruel game on her; laughed in her face once again. One night a Tyrannomon, maybe two had attacked their cottage. Everything she had known had been burned to the ground. And Trell, she hadn't seen him since. She had presumed him dead, or the Tyrannomon had taken him. She had been lost without him, alone and sad. That was when she found Polarmon; She never forgot Trell, but remembering him brought back painful memories. And now here he was, right in front of her, alive.

"Is there any cure?" Kari asked.

Iris turned her attention back to the conversation. She had missed some of it but she still listened intently. She had to find out as much as possible. If they were talking about her they probably wouldn't tell her; they wouldn't want her to 'worry'. But she needed to know.

"Yes… I think," Trell answered, "I heard of it once of an old man…"

"Well what is it?" Davis asked obviously frustrated at Trells' hesitation.

Iris leaned forward more; she needed to hear this. She placed her hand on the door; pushing it open a slight bit more. Iris cringed as it let out a loud creaking groan. Everyone turned to face her, their eyes lighting up with surprise. 

"Iris?" Trell asked standing up out of his seat.

Iris pushed the door open and stared Trell in the eyes. He had changed, so much. His eyes looked older, wiser than she remembered. As if he had seen things no one should ever see in his lifetime. His face was taunt and gruff, as was his body from years of labor and survival. The thing that caught her eyes the most however was the huge pink scar that ran from his left eye to his chin.

"Trell I can't believe you're alive." She mumbled stepping closer and raising her hand to touch his cheek.

"It's been a long time…" He replied gently holding onto her hand and lowering it from his face.

"What happened?" She asked tears starting to sting at her eyes, "I thought for sure you were dead."

"You know me, I'm a survivor." He said smiling.

"But how? I thought for so long…" Iris trailed off, choking back sobs. 

She didn't want to cry but she couldn't help it. So much had happened over the last hour; she couldn't contain it. She took a deep breath and wiped the wetness off her face. 

"I know… I thought you too were dead and when I saw you. When they brought you in here I couldn't believe my eyes," Trell replied wiping another tear that threatened to spill over her eye, "Ever since those Tyrannomon destroyed our house I've been looking for you."

"But I was right there." Iris protested pulling away from Trell, " I waited there for two days hoping you'd come back, but you didn't, how could you have been looking for me?"

"I thought… the Tyrannomon, they captured me… I came back…" He said softly 

Iris stared deep into his eyes; she knew he was telling the truth but she didn't want to believe it. She wanted to blame someone for her loneliness; wanted to lift the burden of her life's' hard trials. It was true she hadn't been alone; she had had Polarmon there the whole time. But she wanted something else, something bigger, better. She wanted the companionship of another human; even if she did have to live in the Digiworld forever she still wanted the one small thing.

"I know… I know you came back but… I was so lonely, so scared… I missed you Trell…" She said leaning up against him letting her tears roll down her cheeks.

"It's okay Iris, you never were the one to cry." He mumbled

"I know but you don't know what I've been through…" She whispered back

"I heard… I wish I could have been there. I should have known; I should have been there. What kind of big brother am I?" He pulled away from her looking into her sky blue eyes.

"It's okay, I'm fine now aren't." She said forcing a smile through her tears.

"No you're not, I can see through your little act. You're hurt and it's going to take more than just two weeks to heal the scars you've received." 

Iris couldn't reply; it was true. She was hurt deeply from Black Gatomon, deeper than anyone could possibly fathom. Not just physically, though that made up a great portion of it. But mentally, the memories that plagued her, even now were torturous. Her dreams, no nightmares were riddled with visions of blood and pain, and helplessness. 

"I'm sorry…" She heard Kari whisper.

Iris pulled away from Trell and stared at Kari; watching as tears rolled down her already stained cheeks. Why was she apologizing? If anything she should be apologizing. She had left Kari to die; left her as she, her selfish self wallowed in her own pain. What kind of friend would do that?

"Why do you say that Kari?" She whispered forgetting about Trell for the moment.

"I-I couldn't help you…and… I mean… I'm sorry." She said biting her bottom lip, trying in vain to stop her tears from flowing.

"Kari you don't have to be sorry," Iris said walking over to hug Kari, "It's me that should be sorry, I couldn't help you…" 

"No don't you remember?" Kari said pulling away from Iris, "I couldn't choose, I didn't choose you…"

"What do you mean?" Iris said cocking her head to the side.

"When she said I had to choose, between you and the others… I couldn't do it…" Kari replied slowly stepping away from Iris.

"… Kari, that's okay… If I had known…" Iris said moving closer to Kari, "If I had known I wouldn't want the others to die…" 

"But you… you were sick and I couldn't help you… you're my friend and I couldn't help you…" Kari sobbed 

"Kari…" Iris whispered hugging Kari once again, "I don't care, in fact I feel in debt to you because I couldn't help you and I should have…"

"But don't you see," Kari said between sobs, "It was you I should have helped, you were in worse condition than me and I couldn't do anything, I didn't do anything."

"I wasn't in any worse condition than you." 

"Yes you were, you were out for a week longer than I was… everyone thought you were going to die" 

Iris couldn't say anything. Had she really been that bad? She felt terrible right now it was true, but she didn't know it was that bad. 

"… Was I really that close to dying?" Iris whispered feeling her arms get weak.

Kari glanced up at her; her wet apologetic eyes filled with sorrow and fear. 

"Iris… I was so scared; we sat by your bed the whole time. I thought, we all thought you wouldn't make it. You had a terrible fever and sometimes you would get so hot; Davis but you in a bath once you were burning up. And you would yell things out… Iris I'm so sorry." Kari said looking away to avoid Iris eyes.

"I-I had no idea… " Iris mumbled.

What could she possibly say to that? She couldn't remember yelling anything out, she didn't even remember dreaming about anything. She only remembered waking up and being alone. 

"I'm so sorry… "Kari whispered bowing her head; her shoulders and body shaking with tears.

TK was instantly at her side, his arm over her shoulders trying to sooth her. Iris felt like crying, she felt like screaming; but she didn't. She was too tired, too weak; the only thing she could do was stand and stare at TK and Kari. She felt Trell behind her; he didn't move though just stood there as everything sunk into her skull. 

Iris felt her legs get weak her whole body started to go numb. She shook her head her breathing becoming heavier. She could hear her heart beating faster and faster in her chest and a cold sweat break out on her forehead. The room started to spin around her; colors from everything splashing together to form a blur of nothing. Black spots started to form over the blur growing until they consumed her vision. 

**

"I hate you so much! Do you know that?" Yolie yelled at Clive

It seemed to Yolie she had been yelling an awful lot lately; nothing this idiot did was right. Not even Davis was this stupid. Once she had found Clive and Armadillomon nothing went right; it was much worse than walking through a never-ending forest with Hawkmon. No now she was walking through a never-ending forest with an obnoxious little twerp that thought he was much too good for anyone. 

She felt like killing him, ripping his ugly head off and using it as a soccer ball. Then she could kick it at Davis and because it's so big and hard it would bowl him over and her life wold be perfect. No more annoying, bigheaded jerks. 

"Whatever." He mumbled back pushing a branch out of his way letting it slap Yolie in the face.

"What did you do that for!?" She growled at him stumbling over a tree root in her anger.

"Do what?" He asked sarcastically

"I hate you!" She yelled again kicking his back causing him to lose his balance and fall to the ground

He slowly pulled himself to his feet dusting his clothes off. He wasn't facing Yolie but she could probably guess what his face looked like. She wasn't scared though; what could he possibly do? And plus he deserved it; he did throw that branch in her face; she had no regrets.

"You know it's not a walk in the park being with you either," He said spinning around to glare at Yolie, "I'd heard about this before but I never knew PMS could be so bad."

"What do you mean PMS?" She yelled grabbing Clive by the shirt, "I don't have PMS I'm perfectly level headed." 

"Tell that to all the digimon you woke up in a twenty mile radius to us." He said, a smile creeping up to his lips.

"I don't have PMS!!" She yelled again throwing him to the ground.

"I don't know… I've never seen anyone yell so much in my life, its definitely PMS."

Yolies' face turned red with rage as she glared at Clive. Without a second thought she jumped at him tackling him to the ground. Hitting him with her fists as hard as she could. Clive was so taken by the attack all he could do was block her fists with his arms. 

"Hey, hey Yolie break it up." Yolie felt herself being pulled from Clive, her fists still swinging furiously at him.

"Let me at him!" She growled pulling against Hawkmons' grip

"Yolie settle down." Hawkmon pleaded yanking on her shirt.

"Hawkmon let go of me I've got to teach this punk some manners." She argued pulling roughly away from Hawkmon.

"Get over it Yolie." Clive said folding his arms across his chest and turning his back on her.

Yolie stood shocked for a moment staring at Clives' back. She had never been told to 'get over it' and she found it very rude. She tried to reply with something equally as smart but nothing came to her mind. She had always thought herself very witty; but she now realized that fighting with Davis didn't really improve anything. A trained monkey could fight with Davis, you only really need one or two comebacks and he'd be stumped. Clive however was a challenge; and though he was so very annoying, Yolie like it.

"I'm outta here," He said walking off without looking back, "I'm not going to stand around all day waiting for you to catch up."

Yolie still stood like a statue staring at his back. It was true her brain was still catching up to the fact that she might have to use it while arguing with Clive but she eventually managed to talk.

"Fine go, I'd rather be by myself than with some obnoxious jerk like you!" She yelled after him

"Suit yourself." He mumbled back disappearing behind a thick tree.

"Yolie lets think rationally here." Hawkmon pleaded running half the way after Clive, "Do you really want to be alone?"

"Yes let that idiot go off by himself I don't care!" She yelled after Clive, expecting he would hear it

"But Yolie do you want to be by yourself, because I sure don't." 

"What are you trying to say Hawkmon? That you don't want to go with me?" Yolie asked, her face expressionless but her voice filled with venom, "Fine go with Clive, I'll be fine without you anyway!"

With those words Yolie stormed off into the forest behind them, heading the exact opposite direction from Clive. Quickly disappearing from Hawkmons view. He shook his head slightly; she could be so stubborn sometimes. She would be back, he knew it; she was alone without any food, it wouldn't take her long to give up and come back. Or get lost and wait for him to find her, she was going the wrong way after all.

"Where's she going?" Hawkmon turned to look at Armadillomon; he had slept through the whole ordeal and still looked drowsy.

"She'll be back." Hawkmon replied

"But she's going from where we just came." Armadillomon pointed out

"I know…"

**

The cottage was eerily quiet as Melodye made her way in. It was late twilight and none of the lights had been turned on leaving her very little light. She walked slowly to the small kitchen and lit up the gas lamp flooding the room with light. She wandered around the cottage checking each room for any signs of her friends. There was one room she knew Iris was in, she probably hadn't woken up yet so Melodye didn't bother checking. There was no sign of them anywhere.

She hadn't been gone from the cottage very long, at least she hadn't thought she had been gone for long. She had found a field of dandelions not far from the cottage and had obviously spent longer there than she had expected. She had been so enveloped in memories and thoughts she had lost track of time completely. 

She wandered still around the cottage checking every room again in case she had missed something. That was when she heard a door creak open. She spun around to find the source of the noise and was surprised to find Davis coming out of the room Iris had been sleeping in. He looked terrible as well, dark circles around his bloodshot eyes. And his face white, as if he'd seen a ghost.

"Your back?" He asked rubbing his eyes with the back of his fist

"Where is everyone?" She asked walking into the light 

"Out the back." He stated sitting down heavily at the kitchen table

"Are you okay? Where's Iris?" She asked taking a seat next to him

"She's still asleep, she woke up earlier but…" He trailed off squinting against the light.

"She woke up?" Melodye asked in surprise

"Yeah, she had a real shock when she saw Trell." Davis replied a smile creeping to his lips.

"What about you, you look like your going to fain any moment." Melodye said peering into his half closed eyes

"I'm fine," Her replied nonchalantly rubbing his eyes again

"Oh well I'm going to go find the others." She said standing up and walking slowly out of the room.

Poor Davis, he looked terrible. She knew he had been sitting by her bed again, sitting, watching her as she slept. That's all he had done the whole time they had been here. At first he had switched between Iris' and Karis' rooms; but once Kari had woken up and completely ignored him he spent all his time in Iris' room. 

Melodye walked slowly out the back of the cottage. Blinking to adjust her eyes to the sudden darkness. She followed the hushed voices of her companions to a large oak tree that stood proudly behind the small house. She stumbled over to them falling over at TKs' feet.

"Are you okay?" He asked reaching his hand out to her

"Yeah, I can't see a thing." She replied getting up and brushing her clothes off, not sure weather they had anything on them or not.

"I guess it is a little dark," Karis' voice floated over to her

"We should go inside soon," Trell added

"But what are we going to do?" Kari asked bringing up their previous conversation.

"Well first we have to wait until Iris wakes, then I suppose you should try find your other companions," Trell replied 

"Will you come with us?" TK asked finally coming into Melodyes' focus

"I cant…" He replied lowering his head slightly

"Why not?" Kari asked regretfully, "You've been such a good help we wouldn't want to leave you behind."

"I know but… oh never mind." He trailed off shaking his head

"I wont bother you anymore about it…" Kari said softly seeing the obvious reluctance in his eyes

"Thank you, but you might want the help of some of my friends." Trell offered rising his head again

"Who do you have in mind?" TK asked intrigued

"Don't worry, they're trust worthy." 

"Well if you say so then…" Kari added

"Hey it's getting really dark and I'm getting eaten by mosquitoes, lets go inside." TK said getting up and offering Kari his hand

"Yeah, I hope Iris wakes up soon." Kari said accepting TKs hand and walking into the cottage with him

"Hey Trell." Melodye said stopping Trell from entering the cottage," Um when do you think Iris is going to wake up I mean with the…"

Trell hung his head, half in thought, half in despair. He sighed and replied quietly

"I'm not sure I just hope she's strong enough."

Trell had told them all the virus Witchmon had inflicted in Iris could very well be deadly if the host was not treated properly before it could spread. Melodye wanted more than anything for Iris to be okay, it took a long time for it to spread so that gave them plenty of time, but the antidote was very rare and could probably not even exist in this time span. That was what Trell had said, but Melodye would do all she could to help her friend even if it meant… even if it meant traveling back in time or something, she'd do it in a heartbeat for her friend. She just hoped Iris would wake up soon so they could go.

[Back][1]

To Chapter 13

   [1]: chosendestiny.htm



	13. Destiny

Chapter 13: Destiny

Chapter 13: Destiny

"Hey Ken, what do you know about Fate?"

Ken turned his attention from the beautiful rainbow horizon to the young green eyed boy that sat next to him. Cody had always puzzled him, his wisdom was far beyond his years, and there was something about his eyes that made him look older, much more mature than anyone he'd seen his age. 

"What do you mean?" Ken replied slightly cocking his head to one side, his navy blue hair falling over his face

"Well I was thinking about it, and well, what does it mean?" Cody asked, turning his attention back to the sunset

Fate? Why would he want to know that?

"Uh… well I've never really though about it…" Ken admitted biting down on his lower lip, "Why do you want to know?"

"I was think about it and it just doesn't make sense."

It was true, Ken had never really thought about fate and destiny and those kind of things; he mostly relied on science. But maybe that was the reason, he'd never though about fate because it made no sense. What did it mean, sure the dictionary could give a meaning for it, but sometimes things surpassed the knowledge if the human brain. 

"My Grandpa told me once, that fate was a force that determines everything you do, your life is ruled by fate, and that it determines your destiny…"He continued

"Well yeah I guess that's right…" Ken agreed half-heartedly

"But he also said that no matter what happens your destiny, or fate never changes, no matter what happens." 

"Yeah…" 

"I was thinking that… if your destiny never changes and no matter what happens it'll always be the same, then why do bad things happen?" 

"Bad things?" Ken echoed him glancing over at his, his eye brown furrowing slightly. "You mean like people dying?" 

"Yes, if my destiny is never going to change, and things will always turn out the same, then why did my father die?" 

Ken had never thought about that, he had heard that theory before, but he had never thought about it like that. Suddenly his mind filled with questions, as he imagined Codys' had. Why then, if Fate was unchangeable, did Sam die? Why, if his destiny was always supposed to be a digidestined; that no matter what happened it would never change. Why did his brother have to be taken from him?

"I'm sorry Ken, I just, it makes me wonder…" Cody trailed off, his eyes glazing over slightly, his mind sinking back into it thoughts.

"You mean what if…" Ken suggested, "What if Sam hadn't died?"

"Yeah, what kind of person would I be if my father hadn't died? Would I change? Would everything be different? Or would it just be the same?" Cody mused drawing his knees up to his body and resting his head on them.

"You know, I read a book on that once, it was some theories, theories on things like fate, I think…" Ken trailed off his mind sinking further into itself

There are many different dimensions, each like the branch of a tree. There are so many possibilities in life; each branch represents a different possibility. Think of some what ifs' in your life, think of all the possible outcomes, of those few what ifs' and that's only a fragment of the tree. His mind reeled with memories, the words written in the book flooding back to him, along with the many thoughts that had filled his head at the time.

"It said, that fate was like a tree, that all the different possibilities were branches in those trees." Ken started, mouthing the words that flew through his mind

"All the what ifs?" Cody added as if reading his mind

"Yeah, every little possibility, no matter how small was a branch on that tree." Ken continued 

"But do they all reach the same point?"

"I don't know, after that it started going into some of Einstein's theories about dimensions." 

"Dimensions?"

"Yeah, about how each possibility was a different dimension. That's what the branches on the tree were, dimensions."

"But do they all lead to the same place? Did it mention anything in that book about it?" Cody asked again peeling his eyes from the slowly fading sun to Ken

"I don't know, I don't think it did, you'll have to leave that up to your imagination…" Ken said stretching out on the soft green grass and turning his eyes skyward

"Yeah I guess, so you mean that there's a dimension where my father is alive?" Cody asked hopefully laying back on the grass as Ken had

"Yeah, and a dimension with Sam…" Ken trailed off his mind forming a mental picture of Sam

Why couldn't this be the dimension where Sam was alive? If Sam hadn't died he probably wouldn't have become the digimon emperor, he wouldn't have to carry the guilt and pain on his shoulders. He might still be a digidestined, if what Cody said was true, but the road wouldn't' have been so bumpy. But if that was his fate, he wasn't going to complain, those things had passed and though the memory would never leave him, he had learned some things from it. 

**

__

People change Davis, I'm not the same person I used to be, I can't keep playing these games. He still remember so clearly the day she had spoken those words to him, it still hurt deep inside, and it would probably never stop hurting. She was so kind, but in those few words she had managed to break him so bad, leaving him in the darkness, for there was no light without her, to pick up the shards of his soul.

It played over and over in his mind, the sunlight cherry tree raining its sweet petals down on them. Who would have imagined he would have died at that heavenly place. He had asked her, which he regretted so much; he had asked her to take his heart and hold it safe. But it had only been a game to her, a meaningless game. His days of light had shattered like his heart in her delicate pretty hands.

There under the blooming sakura tree he had tucked one of its fallen flowers behind her ear and asked her so softly to be his. She laughed at the question, took his heart in her hands and crushed it before him. He had laughed along with her at the time, though anyone could tell he was a broken man the instant she had let a soft giggle escape her lips.

__

People change Davis, I'm not the same person I used to be, I can't keep playing these games with you. Those were the words she had uttered after her mocking laughter had stopped. Those words moving past his shattered heart to attack his vulnerable soul. Her polite way of saying back off, I'm with TK now and don't bother with your sympathy act anymore. She had single handedly broken him beyond repair.

He had contemplated suicide, but what kind of coward would he be then? Running away from his problems was not the Motomiya way. A while after he had asked her and every one else to call him by his proper name instead of Davis. But it had failed; his attempts to shut himself away had failed. Nosy people like Ken had pried through his weak shell and brought him back to face the light.

He had known long before that TK and Kari were in a relationship; they were perfect for each other. Hope and light fit together like strawberries and cream, without one the other would not be. So he played along, he fit the part so perfectly, he pretended not to notice and everyone believed him. It was degrading and humiliating to turn a blind eye on their whispers and pretend to be offended every time someone tried to tell him the 'truth'. But if he didn't then he thought he might go crazy. 

For the longest time he had strived to keep up his act, but every day he knew it was breaking. Ken saw through it, of course he would, Ken knew almost everything about him. But he still acted that way around him, even now. A few times he thought he would crack for sure, watching them was maddening, and his heart still had to repair itself.

Then she had come, like a tornado, and turned everything upside down. That day he had met her, her smile was so much like Karis' so warm and welcoming. He had thought he would crack that day; he would break down never to return. Though he hid it so well, he even impressed himself. But that day he felt his heart start to gather the pieces together after so long. 

Now she lay here, her skin deathly pale, her body limp and her breaths short and far between. She was dying slowly, slipping through his fingers. Leaving him to piece his heart back together by himself. It was noticeable to anyone that saw him that he could not handle it by himself. After she came he didn't need to act anymore, everything came naturally and her smile kept him going. 

He sat hunched over in the darkness next to the bed she lay on. His eyes were sore; they stung from lack of sleep. He couldn't remember the last time he had slept; he was dead tired, but sleep eluded him. Every time he lay down his mind would fill with thoughts and he would lay awake musing through the night. So instead he had assigned himself permanent watch over the comatose girl.

He head the door handle rattle, but didn't even bother turning around to see who would enter. The familiar groan was heard from the door followed by the sound of bare feet padding across the cold wooden floor to his side. He sighed and spared the intruder a glance, catching Kens' warm cerulean blue gaze. He was going to tell him to get rest, but he didn't understand.

"Davis, you should get some rest." 

"I'm fine." Davis whispered back through dry lips

"You look terrible." 

He was probably right, that happens when you haven't slept in more than thirty hours. But Ken didn't understand, he might as well have declared himself insomniac right there and then, but that would cause too much commotion. They'd say he was going insane, which was half true anyway, but they would ask questions he didn't really want to answer. 

"I guess I do." Davis replied nonchalantly

"Come here." 

Davis felt Ken wrap his arms around his chest and lift him out of the chair he had been sitting in. He grunted and stumbled to his feet, removing Kens arms from around himself. 

"I can walk by myself Ken." He said rubbing the stinging pain out of his chest

"But I'm not sure you'd want to." Ken replied a small smile tugging at his lips

Davis glanced over to the bed on the other side of the room, Ken wanted him to go to sleep, but he knew even if he was laying down his mind would never rest. He looked back at Ken who returned his glance with a sympathetic smile. Now he was going to tell him that if he needed a friends he'd be there for him, and usually he would have accepted a shoulder to cry on, but right now he felt like being alone with his thoughts.

"Davis you know if you need a friends I'm always here for you." 

"Thanks Ken." Davis said in reply sitting down on the bed

"Something's wrong I can tell, you haven't been yourself lately, is it Kari?" He asked softly moving over to sit on the bed next to Davis

"No man I'm alright," Davis replied closing his eyes and laying back, "I'm just worried about, Iris."

"Who's worried about me?" 

Davis' head snapped up at the sound of the raspy yet familiar voice. He sat up quickly ignoring the sudden rush of blood to his head causing the room to spin. She was awake, and she looked perfectly healthy. Davis stared at her, his mouth hanging open like a breed of fish and his tired bloodshot eyes wide. 

"You're awake." He stated getting up and quickly making his way to her bedside

"Yeah, though I feel like crap." She replied rubbing her already messy blue hair

"I can't believe it, you're finally awake." Davis exclaimed resisting the urge to grab her and hug her tightly 

"Yeah I wasn't going to sleep forever silly." She said back rubbing the sleep out of her bloodshot eyes, "But you look like you need a few good hours of sleep yourself."

"Don't worry about me, you're awake. I can't believe it, when you blanked out like that I was so scared. You've been asleep for a while, and you condition got even worse." He trailed off realizing he was letting out more that he was supposed to.

He wasn't supposed to say anything about the virus, none of them wanted her to worry about it. It was hard for everyone, knowing their friend had a deadly virus growing inside of her, but it was worse for him because she was the only person he knew that could help him. It was selfish of him yes, but he needed her and he didn't want to lose her like he had lost Kari.

They had discussed the antidote to the virus; it came from a special digimon that live in the mountains somewhere on the other side of the digiworld. Once she was awake they were going to find Yolie and Clive and go searching for the digimon. Trell had told them it took a while, maybe a few years for the virus to mature but he had demanded they start searching for it as soon as they could. He wasn't going to wait; nothing was going to get in his way.

They had also discussed some of the affects of the virus, so far she had shown almost all of the symptoms, but the side affects were even worse. As the virus grew it would move into her brain causing her to hallucinate and hear things. It would take over her bit by bit breaking down her defenses slowly until she cracked. The poor girl had gone through so much already but still fate decided to play these cruel games on her. But he was going to stop it, because if she died then he for sure would die along with her.

"What condition?" She asked cocking her head to the side, some of her messy hair falling over her face

"Well I mean, you looked really pale and sick." He lied biting down on her bottom lip.

"I'm going to go tell Kari and the other that she's awake." Ken interrupted waling out the door leaving the tow alone.

A deathly silence fell upon the room as Davis sunk back into his thoughts watching her bloodshot eyes as they slowly roamed over the surroundings. She looked back at him, her sapphire eyes shimmering with a childish innocence. After all she had been through she could still retain that innocence he loved about her. 

"Are you okay?" She asked softly

"I'm fine, what about you?" He asked back just as softly, "Everyone is so worried."

"Davis, I know about the virus." She whispered her eyes shimmering slightly with tears

Davis felt his eyes widen as the words sunk into his head. If she knew, she must have heard them talking the other day. 

"Uh, Iris… I'm sorry." He said biting down harder on his lip

"It's okay, it's not your fault Davis, I just…" 

She stared deeper into his eyes taking in every last detail of his face. She didn't want to forget Davis when she died because she knew it was close. He was probably the best friend she had ever had and she loved him. She wasn't scared of death, for most of her life she had wished for it, but leaving him and all of her friends behind would be the hardest part.

"I'm not scared Davis, I just don't want to leave you behind." She said mouthing the words she had been thinking

"You're not going to die Iris." Davis said forcefully scooping her hand up in his, "I'm making sure of that."

"Davis it's okay, I'm not scared, I don't mind…" 

"Don't talk that way Iris, you will live. There's a cure for the virus, it can be cured, Trell knows of one." Davis replied but it sounded more like he was reassuring himself more than her.

"It's okay… Davis just please don't tell the others. I don't want them to know that I know, they'll just fuss over me and I don't want them to worry."

"Okay, I won't tell, but you don't give up hope, your not going to die you hear me?" He replied squeezing her hand and giving her a hopeful look

"Okay…" She whispered squeezing his hand back.

"Iris? You're awake?" 

Iris spun around at the sound of Karis' voice and was met with Kari wrapping her in a tight hug. She still was tortured by the hopelessness she felt whenever she thought of Kari laying limply on that cold metal table. She would never be able to forgive herself for that, but she couldn't let that bother her now, not while Kari was around. For some reason whenever she mentioned she was sorry for what she did Kari would get sad and that was the last thing Iris wanted to do.

"Uh Kari your hurting me," She choked out of constricted lungs

"Oh sorry, I'm just, thank god you're alright." Kari replied letting go of her and looking her over

Iris glanced over the group of people that had suddenly accumulated in her room, everyone on them looking at her or Kari. She couldn't restrain the heat the rose in her cheeks as she met eyes with Davis momentarily. She quickly averted her eyes to look at Trell, her long lost big brother. She still couldn't believe he was alive after all these years. For so long she had thought he had become another victim to them damn Tyrannomon, but here he was, alive.

"Iris I'm glad your awake," Cody said in his soft raspy voice

"Thanks Cody…" She replied refusing to break eye contact with Trell

"Iris, its good to see your well." Trell said nodding his head causing his longs bangs to cover his eyes completely

He looked hesitant, carefully picking out the right words. She knew when he did this; she could see it immediately. Like the time her favorite teddy bear had been accidentally used as fire wood, he didn't want to tell her so he became uncharacteristically quiet around her. She knew what it was about this time too, he didn't want her to know about the virus. 

"Well are you feeling well enough to be filled in on the plans?" Trell asked his eyes still hidden underneath his unruly bangs

"Yeah I guess, just let me get myself cleaned up first." She replied standing up from her place on the bed.

"Okay…" Everyone filed out of the room leaving her alone. 

She felt awkward around them now, knowing they were trying to hide something from her that she already knew. She could tell exactly when they would hesitate and move around the subject, it was so easy when you knew. She shrugged her shoulder and made her way towards the small bathroom that connected to her room, slipping off her light nightgown as she did.

She caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror, the first time shed seen herself since shed been tortured by Gatomon. It was amazing how much she had changed; she didn't even know her own body anymore. She traced a finger over a larger purplish scar that ran across her stomach, flinching at the thought of just how that scar had come to be there. She cursed herself for thinking about such things; she had to forget it or it would soon consume her wholly. 

But she still couldn't believe how many scars and small fading bruises covered her body. She had been in so much pain at the time she didn't know what hurt more. The large scabby gash on her leg looked like it would have been the worse out of all, but she was sure some parts would have been worse. She shook her head vigorously straining to clear her mind of such thoughts. She didn't want to slip into depression, which she knew would happen if she kept thinking along those lines. 

She turned away from the mirror, the image of her scarred body still lingering in her eyes. She had caring friends, loving friends she needed them at this time and she sure hoped they were ready to give her the support she needed. She flicked the shower taps on with ease and stepped under the warm relaxing flow of water; all her worries suddenly drifting away.

**

"Okay guys you ready?" Davis called out to the rest of the digidestined team

"Wait!" Iris yelled jumping off Megapolarmons' back and running over to Trell

She didn't want to miss this chance; it could be the very last chance for her to finally be able to stay with her older brother. She ran over to him, her hair blowing around her face in the howling wind. Today wasn't exactly the best day to be searching for their lost friends, it was cold, windy and the clouds were ominous and gray. But they decided they couldn't wait any longer, they had to find them and defeat Witchmon and Gatomon no matter what the weather.

"Come with us!" She yelled over strong wind

"I can't," He said back 

She reached him and flung her arms around his neck. She knew he wasn't going to come and this could very well be the last time she saw him for another forever. She didn't want to let him go again, she had had hardly any time to talk to him and she missed him so much. But it was her duty as a digidestined to destroy Witchmon and she couldn't abandon her friends. 

He carefully returned the embrace his hands only lightly touching her shoulder blades. She wanted more time with him, she wanted to stay here with him forever. For things to go back to the way they used to be. But things always changed and she knew she couldn't go back, it was impossible with her current status. So she savored these last moments with him holding him so tight.

"Please, I don't want to loose you again." She pleaded pulling away from him

"Iris, you know I wish I could, I want to protect you like an older brother should. God forbid another that Gatomon hurts you again, if so I'll hunt her down and turn her into a doormat. But this is your destiny Iris, not mine and once again we have to part ways. I'm sorry, our paths were only intertwined for brief moments, but I will remember them forever."

"Trell…" She whispered as he took one of her hands in his own

"Now go, your destiny awaits, may our paths cross again." He brought her hand up and kissed it lightly.

She felt the tears bubble up in her eyes, but forced them back. She didn't want to cry in front of him, that would just prove her to be weak, but she could barely restrain herself. With one last wistful look over her shoulder she ran back to Megapolarmon and jumped on her back, signaling the rest of the group to go ahead. 

She glanced back at him one more time, at his long hair blowing gracefully in the strong wind, his deep brown eyes steady and warm as she had always remembered the. She was never going to forget him, she never could, and as she rode off into the vast plains she would almost picture a silent tear roll down his taunt cheek. She hoped he never forgot her too, for their paths would cross again, she would make sure of it.


End file.
